Local execs told: Rid your areas of crime, drugs

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has this piece of advice to incoming local chief executives: Clean your cities of crime and illegal drugs.

The President said he had no qualms about “forcing down” the government’s mindset of imposing law and order on local leaders who will assume their posts on June 30.

“It’s just about cleaning the city, imposing law and order, and especially drugs, and try to limit the movements of criminals from other places,” he said in Davao City.

In an interview on Saturday, the President noted that improving peace and order in the country had always been “on the agenda of government” in the past.

“It’s either they accept the present mindset of the government, or if not, we will force it upon them. There’s no other choice,” he said.

Good, bad effects

The President made the remarks in a television interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy in Davao City.

He noted that although the Philippines is still a democratic nation, democracy may have good and bad effects on society at times.

“It is a democracy, and there are things in a democracy which are bad, and there are things in a democracy which are very good. But there’s bad things. Too much democracy, too many rights, and the fragile crime-and-punishment story of this country is not the point of…” he said.

The President then stressed that he would not think twice about making people accept the imposition of law and order, as he had done in Davao.