Philippines' Duterte Vows No Mercy In Crime War

MANILA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th july, 2016) : Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed Monday to show "no mercy" in his bloody war on crime, warning criminals that priests and human rights advocates cannot protect them from being killed. A defiant Duterte devoted a large chunk of his inaugural "State of the Nation" address to his law and order campaign, which has claimed hundreds of lives since he took office on June 30. "Show no mercy to them because they are not showing any mercy to us anyway," Duterte told lawmakers as he summarised his orders to security forces to eliminate alleged drug lords.

Duterte, 71, won the May election in a landslide after promising to quickly eradicate crime by unleashing security forces with shoot-to-kill orders, and vowing that tens of thousands of people would die during his six-year term. Police have reported killing more than 200 drug suspects, or an average of 11 per day, since he assumed office.

They have insisted they have only killed people in self-defence. Media tallies have put the death toll far higher, taking into account the many bullet-riddled or stabbed corpses found on streets across the nation.