Want killings to stop? ‘Drop drugs, it’ll end tomorrow’ – Duterte

Nanette Castillo grieves next to the dead body of her son Aldrin, an alleged drug user killed by unidentified assailants, in Manila on October 3, 2017. Philippines police officers who want to speak out about “extrajudicial killings and summary executions” in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war have been offered sanctuary and legal help by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, which counts 80 percent of Filipinos as followers, has been one of the leading critics of the drug war and its offer to police was another step in its efforts to stop the killings. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

MANILA, Philippines — Want killings in the country to stop? President Rodrigo Duterte has the solution: Stop using or peddling drugs.

“Kayong mga durugista o may kilalang durugista na galit sakin kasi pinatay ko ‘yung kaibigan ninyo, anak ninyo (expletive) sila ang sabihan mo,” Duterte said Thursday in his speech during the unveiling of the Las Piñas Drug Rehabilitation Center marker.

“If you want these killings stopped, if you want to live peacefully, if you are afraid of EJKs (extrajudicial killings)… just drop it (drugs) and it will end tomorrow. I assure you,” he added.

Duterte won the 2016 presidential elections with a brutal stance against illegal drugs as his main platform.

Human rights advocates claimed most of the fatalities in the Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drugs drive were extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by cops. The Duterte administration has vehemently denied this allegation.

According to government data, the government’s crackdown on illegal drugs has claimed at least 5,000 lives since Duterte took office in 2016,

READ: PDEA: Almost 5000 killed in Duterte’s war on drugs as of Oct. 2018

Mr. Duterte is currently facing complaints before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. /kga