Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, gives good copy. Here’s a quote from his final election rally: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.”

And here’s another, from last Sunday, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime condemned Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.”

“I do not want to insult you,” Duterte said. (He only called them “stupid.”) “But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that rude, we might just as well leave. So take us out of your organization. You have done nothing. Never. Except to criticize.”

What upset Ban and the UNDOC is the fact that Duterte is having people murdered. Since he took office three months ago, some 900 “suspected drug-dealers” have been shot dead by police and civilian vigilantes acting in his name. None was found guilty by a court, and some, of course, were completely innocent.

Duterte is not denying it or apologizing. Before he leaves office, he says, he’ll just give himself an amnesty: “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.”

“The Punisher,” as he was known when he was mayor of Davao, is very serious about his “war on drugs.” He recently said he would kill his own children if they took drugs. But crime is not the Philippines’ biggest problem, and it’s not clear what else he is serious about.

He talks vaguely about making the Philippines a federal country, but no details of his policies and plans have emerged. In fact, he has spent most of the time since his election down south in his Davao stronghold, not in Manila.

But he does have a plan of sorts for what to do after he walks out of the U.N. He says he may ask China and African countries to walk out too and form a rival organization. He doesn’t know much about China or Africa, so maybe he thinks they would like to get together and defy the parts of the world where governments believe that killing people is wrong.

“Duterte Harry” (another nickname) is very popular in the Philippines, but he is not really a threat to global order. The hundred million Filpinos will have to live with him for the next six years, but the U.N. is not doomed. In fact, it is doing better than most people give it credit for.

One proof of this is the fact that the secretary general now has the right to criticize a member government merely for killing its own citizens. That’s not what it was designed for. When it was created in 1945, as the catastrophe of World War II was ending, its main goal was to prevent any more wars like that.

The founders tried to give it the appearance of a broader moral force by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but that was mainly window-dressing. The U.N. was created by the great powers to prevent any government from launching another war of international aggression, not to make governments treat their own citizens better.

In fact, each major power was effectively guaranteed the right to do whatever it wanted to its own citizens, so long as it did not attack the neighbors. In this, the new U.N. was just recognizing reality, for every great power was determined to preserve its own “sovereignty.” Even for smaller powers, the great powers could rarely agree on what kind of intervention was desirable, and who should do it.

The U.N. has done well in its original task: It shares the credit with nuclear weapons for the fact that no great power has fought any other for the past 71 years. It has gradually moved into other areas like peacekeeping and promoting the rule of law in the world, but it never interferes inside the territory of the great powers. Even in smaller countries it almost never intervenes without the invitation of the local government.

So when Duterte called the U.N. useless because “if you are really true to your mandate, you could have stopped all these wars and killings,” he was talking through his hat. Besides, he would never accept U.N. intervention in his own country to deal with an alleged crime wave. He’s just talking tough because he hates being criticized.

It’s very unlikely that he will carry out his threat. The U.N. is the keystone in the structure of international law that, among many other things, deters China from settling its territorial dispute with the Philippines by force. Duterte is just a problem for the Philippines, not for the U.N. or the world.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist and military historian whose articles are published in 45 countries.</s>Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, gives good copy. Here’s a quote from his final election rally: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.”

And here’s another, from last Sunday, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime condemned Mr Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.”

“I do not want to insult you,” Duterte said. (He only called them “stupid.”) “But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that rude, we might just as well leave. So take us out of your organisation. You have done nothing. Never. Except to criticise.”

What upset Ban Ki-moon and the UNDOC is the fact that Duterte is having people murdered. Since he took office three months ago, some 900 “suspected drug-dealers” have been shot dead by police and civilian vigilantes acting in his name. None was found guilty by a court, and some, of course, were completely innocent.

Duterte is not denying it or apologising. Before he leaves office, he says, he’ll just give himself an amnesty: “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.”

“The Punisher,” as he was known when he was mayor of Davao, is very serious about his “war on drugs”: he recently said he would kill his own children if they took drugs. But crime is not the Philippines’ biggest problem, and it’s not clear what else he is serious about.

He talks vaguely about making the Philippines a federal country, but no details of his policies and plans have emerged. In fact, he has spent most of the time since his election down south in his Davao stronghold, not in Manila.

But he does have a plan of sorts for what to do after he walks out of the United Nations. He says he may ask China and African countries to walk out too and form a rival organization. He doesn’t know much about China or Africa, so maybe he thinks they would like to get together and defy the parts of the world where governments believe that killing people is wrong.

“Duterte Harry” (another nickname) is very popular in the Philippines, but he is not really a threat to global order. The hundred million Filpinos will have to live with him for the next six years, but the United Nations is not doomed. In fact, it is doing better than most people give it credit for.

One proof of this is the fact that the Secretary General now has the right to criticise a member government merely for killing its own citizens. That’s not what it was designed for. When it was created in 1945, as the catastrophe of the Second World War was ending, its main goal was to prevent any more wars like that.

The founders tried to give it the appearance of a broader moral force by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but that was mainly window-dressing. The UN was created by the great powers to prevent any government from launching another war of international aggression, not to make governments treat their own citizens better.

In fact, each major power was effectively guaranteed the right to do whatever it wanted to its own citizens, so long as it did not attack the neighbours. In this, the new UN was just recognizing reality, for every great power was determined to preserve its own “sovereignty.” Even for smaller powers, the great powers could rarely agree on what kind of intervention was desirable, and who should do it.

The UN has done well in its original task: it shares the credit with nuclear weapons for the fact that no great power has fought any other for the past 71 years. It has gradually moved into other areas like peace-keeping and promoting the rule of law in the world, but it never interferes inside the territory of the great powers. Even in smaller countries it almost never intervenes without the invitation of the local government.

So when Duterte called the UN useless because “if you are really true to your mandate, you could have stopped all these wars and killings,” he was talking through his hat. Besides, he would never accept UN intervention in his own country to deal with an alleged crime wave. He’s just talking tough because he hates being criticized.

It’s very unlikely that he will carry out his threat. The UN is the keystone in the structure of international law that, among many other things, deters China from settling its territorial dispute with the Philippines by force. Rodrigo Duterte is just a problem for the Philippines, not for the UN or the world.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.</s>"We are certainly not leaving the U.N.," Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said. "As I've said, the statement of the president is a statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration, and it is not any statement that should indicate a threat to leave the United Nations."

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the U.N. in a speech Sunday after receiving criticism of his approach to drug crime since taking office.

The pugnacious new leader made the comments in Davao City, the southern Filipino city where he served as mayor for over two decades.

"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," he said in English during the address.

"If you are that insulting, son of a bitch, we should just leave," he said then in Tagalog, according to a translation by CNN affiliate CNN Philippines. "Take us out of your organization. You have done nothing anyway." He accused the U.N. of ignoring the plight of the country. "When were you here last time? Nothing. Never. Except to criticize." A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines The comments come days after the U.N. urged Duterte's administration to step back from its violent approach to drug crime. The crackdown since Duterte took office in late June has seen over 650 police killings -- deaths Duterte and his top police officer, Roland Dela Rosa, say are justified self-defense killings -- alongside as many as 900 unexplained murders perpetrated by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has also publicly accused dozens of officials and politicians of being involved in the drug trade. A woman cradles her husband, next to a placard which reads "I'm a pusher," who was shot dead in Manila on July 23, 2016. Police patrol a shanty community at night during curfew on June 8, 2016 in Manila. Philippine police have been conducting frequent night raids and revived a curfew for minors that has not been enforced for years. Some 1,000 people whom authorities accused of being drug users and dealers take an oath before local authorities after turning themselves in in Tanauan, the Philippines, on July 18, 2016. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power on a promise to clamp down on drugs in a two-month crime blitz, encouraging police and even civilians to shoot drug dealers. The country has seen a surge in killings of suspected dealers. A man authorities accused of being a drug user is fingerprinted during the mass surrender of some 1,000 alleged drug users and pushers in the Philippine town of Tanauan, located about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Manila on July 18, 2016. A social worker gives counseling to those who have turned themselves in for drug-related crimes in the Philippines on July 18, 2016. A Philippine police forensic investigator displays packets of drugs and a hand gun found inside a shanty where members of a suspected drug syndicate were killed after a shootout with police on July 3, 2016. A suspected female member of a drug syndicate is presented by police in Manila on June 22, 2016. A gun, bullets, marked money and sachets of crystal meth are laid on a table after a drug raid in Manila on June 20, 2016. Police officers stand in formation before the start of "Oplan Rody" on June 1, 2016, a law enforcement operation named after President Duterte, whose nickname is Rody. The U.N. has condemned the approach. "Allegations of drug-trafficking offenses should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets," a report released Thursday quotes human rights experts as saying. "We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions," the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said in the report. "Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings." Invitation to investigate welcomed. Ready to "see for myself." https://t.co/K9BIZ3ZFKO — Dr Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) August 19, 2016 Duterte's undiplomatic style has landed him in hot water before. He recently insulted the US Ambassador to the Philippines, calling him a "gay son of a bitch," and prior to taking office used similarly colorful language to complain that Pope Francis' visit to the country had resulted in traffic jams. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. As he addressed troops at the country's Armed Forces Central Command Headquarters on August 5, Duterte recounted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the country, saying in Tagalog that he was feuding with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. The Philippines president-elect effectively said he supported vigilantism against drug dealers and criminals in a nationally televised speech in June 2016. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Speaking at a press conference to unveil his new cabinet on May 31 2016, Rodrigo Duterte said journalists killed on the job in the Philippines were often corrupt. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. During the third and last presidential debate, Duterte had said that he would plant a Philippine flag in disputed territories should China refuse to recognize a favorable ruling for the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte made international headlines in April 2016 with his inflammatory comments on the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary that took place in Davao City. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Foreign diplomats weighing in on Rodrigo Duterte's controversial remarks did not sit well with the then-mayor. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. He also lashed out at the womens' group that filed a complaint against him before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. At a CNN Philippines Townhall event in February 2016, Duterte, admitted that he had three girlfriends and a common-law wife. His marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman was annulled due to his womanizing, but he denied this meant he objectified women. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Although he later denied the accusations, the former Davao City mayor admitted his links to the alleged Davao death squad in a May 2015 broadcast of his local television talk show. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte apologized to the Pope after cursing him for the traffic he caused during a 2015 Papal visit to the Philippines. Duterte enjoys high levels of support among Filipinos, who he says are tired of the scourge of drugs. However, the new president's approach to drug crime is facing scrutiny within the country, with one of Duterte's most vocal opponents, Senator Leila de Lima, conducting an inquiry into the high numbers of drug-related deaths since he took office. The senator has called Dela Rosa to a senate hearing on the issue. Last week, in a speech to police officials, Duterte launched a deeply personal attack on de Lima, shocking many Filipinos. Duterte stands by his tactics, which he says are justified in ridding the country of drugs. "My orders are for the police to go out and hunt for criminals," he said. 'I tell them to arrest these criminals if they surrender peacefully, but kill them if they put up a violent struggle. I assume full responsibility for what happens."</s>Police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show close to 6,000 killed since new president took office on June 30.

*This story was first published on August 25. Last updated on December 13.

*Police records show 5,882 people were killed across the country since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30. Of that number 2,041 drug suspects were killed during police operations from July 1 to December 6, while another 3,841 were killed by unknown gunmen from July 1 to November 30, according to a local website. Among the latest fatalities was a seven-year-old child on the island of Cebu, who was hit by a stray bullet on December 3, while unknown gunmen were chasing a teenage boy accused of selling drugs.

*Based on other sources collected by Al Jazeera, there have been an estimated 5,946 deaths. The number does not include cases still to be reported by police or news outlets in the provinces after December 6.

*Al Jazeera has gathered the information of 1,485 people who were killed and the cause of their deaths.

Almost six months into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show the death toll in his anti-drug war has almost reached 6,000.

Despite the mounting toll, Duterte was quoted as saying on Monday that fewer people were being killed, adding "most of them have been finished off anyway, I am not kidding".

On Tuesday, he announced the release of $20m to fund the medicine for patients undergoing drug rehabilitation.

Recently, human rights groups and activists have denounced the Philippine leader for "steamrolling the rule of law".

Top clerics of the Catholic Church have also stepped up criticism against Duterte's drug war policy, while expressing opposition to his plan to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences.

INFOGRAPHIC: Who's liable for the mounting death toll?

In August, Duterte hailed his anti-drug campaign saying of the three million suspected drug dependents in the country, 600,000 have turned themselves in to authorities.

While saying it does not condone extra-judicial killings, the office of the president said the country should "seize the momentum" in its campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte took his oath as president on June 30 and has vowed to keep his campaign promise of solving the country's illegal drug problem, saying, "I don't care about human rights, believe me."

As of December 13, an Al Jazeera investigation has collected information from 1,485 people who were killed across the country.</s>"We are certainly not leaving the U.N.," Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said. "As I've said, the statement of the president is a statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration, and it is not any statement that should indicate a threat to leave the United Nations."

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the U.N. in a speech Sunday after receiving criticism of his approach to drug crime since taking office.

The pugnacious new leader made the comments in Davao City, the southern Filipino city where he served as mayor for over two decades.

"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," he said in English during the address.

"If you are that insulting, son of a bitch, we should just leave," he said then in Tagalog, according to a translation by CNN affiliate CNN Philippines. "Take us out of your organization. You have done nothing anyway." He accused the U.N. of ignoring the plight of the country. "When were you here last time? Nothing. Never. Except to criticize." A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines The comments come days after the U.N. urged Duterte's administration to step back from its violent approach to drug crime. The crackdown since Duterte took office in late June has seen over 650 police killings -- deaths Duterte and his top police officer, Roland Dela Rosa, say are justified self-defense killings -- alongside as many as 900 unexplained murders perpetrated by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has also publicly accused dozens of officials and politicians of being involved in the drug trade. A woman cradles her husband, next to a placard which reads "I'm a pusher," who was shot dead in Manila on July 23, 2016. Police patrol a shanty community at night during curfew on June 8, 2016 in Manila. Philippine police have been conducting frequent night raids and revived a curfew for minors that has not been enforced for years. Some 1,000 people whom authorities accused of being drug users and dealers take an oath before local authorities after turning themselves in in Tanauan, the Philippines, on July 18, 2016. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power on a promise to clamp down on drugs in a two-month crime blitz, encouraging police and even civilians to shoot drug dealers. The country has seen a surge in killings of suspected dealers. A man authorities accused of being a drug user is fingerprinted during the mass surrender of some 1,000 alleged drug users and pushers in the Philippine town of Tanauan, located about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Manila on July 18, 2016. A social worker gives counseling to those who have turned themselves in for drug-related crimes in the Philippines on July 18, 2016. A Philippine police forensic investigator displays packets of drugs and a hand gun found inside a shanty where members of a suspected drug syndicate were killed after a shootout with police on July 3, 2016. A suspected female member of a drug syndicate is presented by police in Manila on June 22, 2016. A gun, bullets, marked money and sachets of crystal meth are laid on a table after a drug raid in Manila on June 20, 2016. Police officers stand in formation before the start of "Oplan Rody" on June 1, 2016, a law enforcement operation named after President Duterte, whose nickname is Rody. The U.N. has condemned the approach. "Allegations of drug-trafficking offenses should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets," a report released Thursday quotes human rights experts as saying. "We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions," the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said in the report. "Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings." Invitation to investigate welcomed. Ready to "see for myself." https://t.co/K9BIZ3ZFKO — Dr Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) August 19, 2016 Duterte's undiplomatic style has landed him in hot water before. He recently insulted the US Ambassador to the Philippines, calling him a "gay son of a bitch," and prior to taking office used similarly colorful language to complain that Pope Francis' visit to the country had resulted in traffic jams. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. As he addressed troops at the country's Armed Forces Central Command Headquarters on August 5, Duterte recounted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the country, saying in Tagalog that he was feuding with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. The Philippines president-elect effectively said he supported vigilantism against drug dealers and criminals in a nationally televised speech in June 2016. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Speaking at a press conference to unveil his new cabinet on May 31 2016, Rodrigo Duterte said journalists killed on the job in the Philippines were often corrupt. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. During the third and last presidential debate, Duterte had said that he would plant a Philippine flag in disputed territories should China refuse to recognize a favorable ruling for the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte made international headlines in April 2016 with his inflammatory comments on the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary that took place in Davao City. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Foreign diplomats weighing in on Rodrigo Duterte's controversial remarks did not sit well with the then-mayor. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. He also lashed out at the womens' group that filed a complaint against him before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. At a CNN Philippines Townhall event in February 2016, Duterte, admitted that he had three girlfriends and a common-law wife. His marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman was annulled due to his womanizing, but he denied this meant he objectified women. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Although he later denied the accusations, the former Davao City mayor admitted his links to the alleged Davao death squad in a May 2015 broadcast of his local television talk show. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte apologized to the Pope after cursing him for the traffic he caused during a 2015 Papal visit to the Philippines. Duterte enjoys high levels of support among Filipinos, who he says are tired of the scourge of drugs. However, the new president's approach to drug crime is facing scrutiny within the country, with one of Duterte's most vocal opponents, Senator Leila de Lima, conducting an inquiry into the high numbers of drug-related deaths since he took office. The senator has called Dela Rosa to a senate hearing on the issue. Last week, in a speech to police officials, Duterte launched a deeply personal attack on de Lima, shocking many Filipinos. Duterte stands by his tactics, which he says are justified in ridding the country of drugs. "My orders are for the police to go out and hunt for criminals," he said. 'I tell them to arrest these criminals if they surrender peacefully, but kill them if they put up a violent struggle. I assume full responsibility for what happens."</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) — On the day he was sworn into office, President Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to "go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful."

Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users lay dead as morgues continue to fill up. Faced with criticism of his actions by rights activists, international bodies and outspoken Filipinos, including the top judge, Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work.

According to a survey early last month, he has the support of nearly 91 percent of Filipinos. The independent poll was done during his first week in office, and no new surveys have come out since then.

National police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing this week that police have recorded more than 1,900 dead, including 756 suspected drug dealers and users who were gunned down after they resisted arrest. More than 1,000 other deaths are under investigation, and some of them may not be drug-related, he said.

Jayeel Cornelio, a doctor of sociology and director of Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies Program, said he suspects only a few of Duterte's supporters are disillusioned by the killings and his rhetoric because voters trust his campaign promise to crush drug criminals. They also find resonance in his cursing and no-holds-barred comments.

Duterte's death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humor have enamored Filipinos living on the margins of society. He overwhelmingly won the election, mirroring public exasperation over the social ills he condemns.

Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings "may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good," a sentiment echoed by a deluge of comments by Duterte supporters in social media deriding his critics and defending the brutal war on drugs.

"The killings are OK so there will be less criminals, drug pushers and drug addicts in our society," said Rex Alisoso, a 25-year-old cleaner in Manila. He said people have gotten used to the way Duterte talks and voted for him knowing his ways.

Kim Labasan, a Manila shopkeeper, said she does not like Duterte's constant swearing, his "stepping on too many toes," and his decision to allow late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in the Heroes' Cemetery. But she supports the anti-drug war despite the rising death toll because, she said, she has personally seen the effects of drugs. Addicts in her hometown north of Manila have ended up with "poisoned brains" and even robbed her family's home.

"A battle of moralities is being waged right now by this administration — before, if you were a human rights advocate you are a hero of the country, now you are seen as someone who can destroy the country," Cornelio said.

He said that Duterte fosters "penal populism" — identifying a particular enemy, a criminal, and then hunting him down to death. Because the results are visible, tangible and people feel it, "it becomes more important than many other things to the ordinary person."

Duterte has said drugs were destroying the country. In his State of the Nation Address last month, he said "human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy the country."

He also lashed out at U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, calling him gay in derogatory terms, after he criticized Duterte's rape comments during the presidential campaign. He threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations because of U.N. comments condemning extrajudicial killings, saying he did not "give a shit" about the consequences. The following day, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said the Philippines was not leaving the U.N. and Duterte made the comment only because he was tired, angry and frustrated.

Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, said Duterte "is streamrolling the rule of law and its advocates both at home and abroad." The killings suggest his aggressive rhetoric advocating extrajudicial solutions to criminality has found a receptive audience, Kine said.

"His supporters are cheering him on, but wait till one of them is killed," said Ferdie Monasterio, a driver of a ride-sharing company who doesn't support Duterte. "He is no different from Marcos and it looks like he wants to establish a dictatorship."

Cornelio said the death toll is not the clincher in turning public sentiment against Duterte, because a lot of people look at them as justified killings. He said that Dutere's first year in office will be crucial since he promised quick action.

"I think the threshold has to do with the delivery of the promises," he said. "Are changes going to happen sooner or later? If they don't then, people will start getting disillusioned."</s>Improving the quality of life of the people is the better option than violence.

MANILA – An urban poor group is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider its violent approach to end the proliferation of illegal drugs, especially in urban poor communities, by addressing the root causes of their impoverished conditions.

In a statement, Kadamay said the proliferation of illegal drugs in urban poor communities is “symptomatic of the extreme poverty levels being experienced by the people, and as such, improving their quality of life is the better option than violence.”

“Can the president conclusively say that violence and police operations are better solutions to the drug problem than raising the standards of living? With jobs, education and health services, most Filipinos will not need to turn to drugs or at the very least be able to afford the currently high cost of rehabilitation in the country,” Kadamay chairperson Gloria Arellano said.

Nearly a thousand has been killed in the name of Duterte’s war against illegal drugs. Rights groups and church workers have assailed that those killed, for supposedly resisting arrest, belong to poor families.

This week, an audio recording of a police operation in Pasay City surfaced in which pedicab driver Eric Sison amid police pursuit, was heard pleading “Ito po! Ito po! Susuko na ako” (Here I am! I will surrender) followed by a series of gunshots.

The police said they are already conducting an investigation. In a television interview, one police officer claimed that voice heard in the audio recording was not that of the pedicab driver but of a police officer. But the pedicab driver’s family and neighbors described the shooting as “overkill.”

Children most vulnerable in drug campaign

The youngest casualty of the illegal drug campaign, as described in news reports, is five-year-old Danica May, a granddaughter of tricycle driver Maximo Garcia in Mayombo village, Pangasinan who surrendered to the police after learning he was listed in its drug watch.

News reports said the Garcia family was having lunch on Aug. 23 when a man opened fired at their house, killing the child and wounding Garcia in the stomach. Garcia, 53, is recuperating in a hospital.

Children rights group Salinlahi assailed Danica May’s killing, saying that children belonging to families without decent livelihood in urban poor communities are exposed to such violence.

Salinlahi secretary general Kharlo Manano said, “We are one with the Duterte administration’s intention to eliminate illegal drugs in the country, but we should always consider the social context of poor children and their families. If the killings do not stop, more and more children will be caught in the middle of this bloody war.”</s>DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 Aug) — President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the United Nations (UN) amid its criticisms on the current administration’s campaign against illegal drugs that allegedly shot up the cases of extrajudicial killings.

He told an early morning press conference at the Malacañang of the South at the Department of Public Works and Highways 11 in Panacan that he might just decide to part ways with the UN and invite China and African countries to form a new organization.

“So the next time you issue it, I do not want to insult you. But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations,” Duterte said.

He also criticized the international organization for not doing anything to help the country.

“So take us out of your organization – you have done nothing here, anyway, also. When were you here the last time? Never. Except to criticize. You do…Food world? Where’s the food? There’s the world, but there is no food. World Hunger Organization, maybe,” he said.

But Duterte said the country will only leave the UN if it would refund the Philippines with all its contributions and use the money to build more rehabilitation centers around the country.

“The joke is on you. You have to refund me with these so many contributions that we have made all these years. Isauli ninyo contributions namin and we will go out. We contribute a certain amount for the maintenance of UN, right? Oh, you return the money to us and we will go out,” he said.

He also asked the UN, “when have you done a good deed to my country?”

The UN, an intergovernmental organization that promotes international cooperation, with 51 founding member states including the Philippines, was established on October 24, 1945 after World War II.

A Filipino diplomat, Carlos P. Romulo, became President of the UN General Assembly from 1949 to 1950.

Amid the criticisms on the extrajudicial killings, Duterte hit the UN for falling short of respect to him as the country’s chief executive.

Duterte said that the UN must observe proper protocol by sending its representative to personally talk to him before the international organization issued a statement hitting him for the rising cases of extrajudicial killings when he assumed post on June 30.

“You observe protocol because if you do that directly you are addressing yourself to me. Remember that I am – I do not like to say it because I wanted to be called Mayor still – I am the President of the sovereign,” he told.

Duterte, who is known for his scathing words, was apparently irked with UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Dainius Puras’ pronouncements, and said, “ you have fallen short of the protocol for respect and you want me to respect you? You must be s**t. Do not criticize immediately.”

He told the American UN representatives “bastos ka (you are rude)” and went on to say they could even do anything about the killings happening within their country.

“Tell this American, show your respect first. Because sabihin ko, why are you Americans killing the black people there, shooting them down, when they are already on the ground? Answer that question, even if it is one, two, or three, it’s still human rights violations,” he said.

Unfazed with UN’s call to end extrajudicial killings, the President said he is willing to meet with these the UN representatives to disprove their accusations.

“Okay, you guys, you law expert of the United Nations, come here, come here and face me and make the accusations and I will show you the statistics and I will hold your finger and teach you how to count,” he said.

Duterte told the UN to also look at the efforts of the government in protecting its people and not only the increasing number of criminals who were reportedly killed after resisting arrest.

But the President said even the authorities could sometimes be killed in pursuing their fight against illegal drugs.

“The other day I lost two soldiers who where assisting the police. This time it is the police, a day after. We lose about two policemen a day in connection with the drug campaign,” he said.

Duterte said that he assumes full responsibility for the police drug operations that resulted to bloody combat with drug suspects.

Duterte challenged to compare the current statistics on killings with the previous administration.

“And I would ask him, compare it with the previous administration. Same deaths, but these are the innocent children being killed, raped, victims of hold-up and everything, this time, almost with the same number, but it is the criminals who are dying. You can hardly hear now of a student waylaid or a hold-up victim in a bus,” he said.

He also hit Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for just “counting the dead criminals and never made a comparison of the dead victims, innocent people, law-abiding people being killed in the streets.”

Duterte reiterated that he has obligation to protect the innocent, law-abiding citizens and “was never tasked by any law to protect the life of the criminals.”

“I was never born to protect evil. I was born in this universe to suppress evil. I was not raised by my parents, I did not go to Roman Catholic schools and Ateneo and San Beda and talk how to protect the evil doers. I grew up and (was) taught by my parents to be on the side of fairness, to protect the good, and to take care of your country,” he said.

He said that the drug menace is not just “epidemic but pandemic.”

“So what am I supposed to do as a President? Empower the military and the police for after all they are there to protect the integrity and preserve the people of the Philippines,” he added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/ MindaNews)</s>Jaypee Bertes was bruised and battered, his arm broken. He had three bullets in him. He asked for a doctor. “He was leaning on the bars and had a hard time standing,” his widow Harra Kazuo told the senators of her husband and his father at the police station. “He had a difficult time speaking. That was the last time I saw them alive.”

Bertes, a small-time drug dealer, and his father are now just two of a grim statistic – two of the 1,916 who have died in the Philippines police’s “war on drugs”, unleashed barely eight weeks ago, as new hard man president Rodrigo Duterte had promised during his election campaign

“Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal,” Duterte had told police of dealing with the drug lords, suggesting the public get involved too. And they have taken his injunction to heart. Of the total dead, 756 were suspects killed by the unleashed police and 1,160 were killed “outside police operations”, many by vigilantes. How many were involved in drug pushing is unclear and there was undoubtedly some score settling by drug pushers too.

According to the government, faced by a barrage of international and domestic criticism, the new tough policy is paying dividends – 600,000 plus of the country 3.7 million users have reportedly surrendered themselves to the police to avoid arrest.

To little avail in Bertes’s case, as the seven-month-pregnant Kazuo this week told a committee of the senate to inquire into the killings.

Wearing large sunglasses and partly covering her face with a shawl to protect her identity, she claimed he had been preparing to surrender to the police because he was afraid he would be killed. The police had beaten and threatened to shoot him if he did not hand over his drugs, but he had nothing to give them. They strip-searched their two-year- old daughter looking for drugs.

When his father Renato Bertes arrived and demanded to see a warrant he was told simply by one officer “If you want, we can shoot you all here.” He too would die.

Duterte, a controversial former mayor and prosecutor who rose to power after a landslide election victory in May, brought his local police chief Ronald dela Rosa with him from Davao to Manila to head the national force.

In Davao, the Philippines’s second city, he had previously waged a similar “successful” campaign. Hundreds died.

“We are not butchers,” dela Rosa told the sceptical senators.

Duterte, a thin-skinned, Trump-like demagogue – though he hates the comparison and leans politically to the left – has lashed out at critics. In response to UN concerns Duterte threatened to pull the Philippines out of the international body.

He has threatened to shut down the legislature if it hinders his plans and possible martial law. He warned Supreme Court chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno not to create “conflict” after she urged members of the judiciary linked by him to illegal drugs not to surrender without a warrant. Journalists have been told they are not protected from assassination

And he has launched a bitter attack on former justice secretary, senator Leila de Lima, who instigated the senate hearings, accusing her while minister of having an affair with her driver/ bodyguard, who allegedly collected money from drug lords detained in Manila’s New Bilibid prison. She vigorously denies the charges.

And, apparently aping Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, Duterte has now turned his fire on public servants, promising in his “campaign against corruption” to fire every official appointed by a previous president.

Many weary Filipinos see in Duterte’s over-reach a replaying of their political system’s sorry history of autocratic and corrupt rulers.

“To Filipinos, it’s just politics as usual – the manipulations of a game of thrones, so to speak,” says author Miguel Syjuco. He writes of a “deeply entrenched culture of impunity”.

He recalls Ferdinand Marcos whose brutal and deeply corrupt legacy Duterte is seeking to revive with reburial of the dictator’s body with full honours . And former president Gloria Arroyo, who, despite facing charges of graft, has recently been named deputy speaker of congress, and former members of whose cabinet now comprise the majority of Duterte’s inner circle.

It is likely that only international pressure will stay his hand. But the EU, for example, which in 2014 granted the Philippines, alone among Asean member-states, tariff- free access, is not taking a view yet.

Franz Jessen, the head of the EU delegation, says: “Right now, we are looking at the developments. We are not making any conclusion about what would happen later on. We have to wait and see.”

Last year EU exports to the Philippines rose 18 per cent to €6.8 billion.</s>Is the media serving justice to alleged victims of the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs?

No, if we go by the headline of the banner story of the Thursday issue of another national broadsheet about a five-year-old girl being the “latest fatality” in the drug war.

The headline made the story into a case of another drug-related killing, taking the police angle despite claims to the contrary by the family of the man who was shot in a Dagupan City incident, protesting against the police’s inclusion of his name in a drug watch list.

The story’s spin was that the granddaughter was what the newspaper called “collateral damage” in the government’s crackdown on the drug menace and its Pied Pipers across the archipelago.

Yes, a “gunman” had supposedly targeted the grandfather but missed, and accidentally shot and killed the young girl. Although early in the narrative the story did not make a connection between the shooter and the old man, the account segued to the police chief of the northern city where the tragedy happened as having “theorized that drug dealers were behind the attack.”

It was not clear from the story what the basis of the theory was. No detail was given about the local police chief’s comment, not even a qualifier saying the reporter made the necessary follow-up question about that drug-watch list and its basis, and if such question had received any reply. After all, it may not be a farfetched possibility that the assailant could have also just been trying to settle a personal score with the old man and that the shooting had nothing to do with illegal drugs at all?

Authorities, however, had to first produce the attacker, but the story said nothing more about what happened with the suspect after the incident.

The grandfather’s wife said her husband had never been involved in illegal drugs and feared that the “killers may come back for [him].”

Well, the old man survived the shooting and the burden to prove his innocence now lies with him. In the event he is as clean as a whistle, as his wife portrays him to be, then the description of the girl being “collateral damage” collapses.

If, on the other hand, the grandfather is guilty of any illegal drugs connection, then the entire sorry episode cannot be automatically blamed on the government’s war on drugs but on the individual shooter, as may or may not have been provoked by the victim himself. The local police chief referred to the attackers as “drug dealers.” The victim could have also been a drug user or a drug pusher even before the Duterte administration took over.

Obviously, the headline of the story chose to side with the police description of the matter as a drug-related killing perpetrated by private participants in the illegal drugs trade, punching holes in the government crackdown on this crime as nothing more than a bloody foray to meet a deadline and everything about a drive against criminality gone berserk.

There was this other story about a supposedly very young boy who was a heroin addict, according to Janet Cooke, the reporter who wrote the Pulitzer-winning piece for The Washington Post in 1981.

Cooke said in her report “Jimmy” injected himself with heroin. Her editors believed her, but later faced with incontrovertible proof that she had fabricated the story, the paper was forced to return her prize.

While the modern news media’s duty to report the facts now comes with the responsibility of connecting the dots for the readers, when faced with two conflicting sides in the same story, choosing to highlight the angle that favors one side without providing factual back-up for that choice could be as oppressive as hiding the truth itself.
The death toll in Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs reaches 1,900 people killed.