Duterte warns gov’t housing ‘occupiers’: I’ll have you shot

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned informal settlers he would not think twice before ordering soldiers and policemen to shoot them if they insisted on illegally occupying government housing projects.

While saying he would not declare martial law nationwide during his term, the President vowed to impose a very strict rule using the “strongest tools” against crime and lawlessness.

“I will not declare martial law, but just like what I’m doing, I will go for the strongest tools, political tools in my hand,” he said on Sunday night.

The President directed his ire at drug pushers and informal settlers in his speech during the birthday celebration of former Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano in Davao City.

‘Happy to kill you’

“[The] drug problem, it will remain the same … especially if you are a drug lord, I would be happy to kill you. My God, I will be happy to kill you,” he said.

He also called on the informal settlers group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) to stop illegally occupying housing projects for policemen and soldiers, saying he would order them arrested or shot if they resisted.

The President likened Kadamay’s actions to the occupation of a plot of land in a hacienda in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, by sugarcane workers who were not from the area.

Nine of the workers were shot dead by still unidentified suspects last week.

“If you insist on occupying a place, just like what happened in Bacolod (sic), this time I will order your arrest. And when I order your arrest, the arrest is to bring you to the police station,” he said.

Violent resistance

The President added: “If you resist violently, quarrel, then my order to my soldiers and policemen is just simply to shoot. And if [the authorities] are in danger, shoot them dead.”

The President said he would not allow anarchy to reign in the country and would not condone the illegal confiscation of other people’s property.

“My orders to the police and the soldiers, shoot them. If they resist violently, shoot them. If they die, I do not care. You can complain, but let’s have order in this country because you are causing disorder,” he said.

The President also warned informal settlers not to force him to impose severe measures to restore order.

He assured the public that he would ask Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to work out the distribution of idle government lands for farming.

“I will give it to you. You just wait. You do not have to abuse other people by just going there swaggering as if you are the owner,” he said.