Duterte credits police, military as PH named among world’s safest countries

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said the police and the military should be credited after the Philippines was recognized as among the safest countries in the world.

Duterte was reacting to a report by Washington-based analytics firm Gallup which gave the Philippines a law and order index score of 84, tied with Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and Serbia.

Duterte admitted that he was “surprised” that the Philippines was grouped with countries that are “ideally peaceful.” Nonetheless, the President said uniformed personnel should be given credit for the recognition.

“I read that in the briefer and I was really surprised. We are on the top 50 and we are lumped with countries that are ideally peaceful,” Duterte said.

“If it’s a recent Gallup survey, it only shows that…well we have to credit the police and the military and the other uniformed personnel of government who toil to make this country at least very peaceful,” he added.

Gallup’s 2020 Global Law and Order Report is based on the answers of nearly 175,000 adults in 144 countries and areas in 2019.

The firm said “the higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling safe.”

Duterte won the presidency in 2016 with a campaign against criminality and drugs. However, his leadership was marred with accusations of human rights violations due to his brutal war on drugs that has killed thousands of drug suspects.

JPV