MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed Monday to continue his bloody war on illegal drugs despite international and domestic criticism and warned that offenders will end up in "jail or hell." In his second state of the nation speech, Duterte also insisted he would not hold peace talks with communist rebels because of continuing attacks.

Security issues dominated his most important annual speech, including a disastrous two-month uprising by pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city, the worst crisis he has faced.

Thousands of protesters marched outside Congress demanding he deliver on a range of promises which mirror the diverse burdens of his presidency, from protecting human rights to improving internet speed.

A look at the most serious issues confronting Duterte as he enters his second year in power.

Two months after more than 600 pro-Islamic State group militants blasted their way into the southern city of Marawi, the military is still fighting the last gunmen — fewer than 100, about 10 of them foreign. Duterte told reporters after his speech Monday that the government counteroffensive will not stop "until the last terrorist is taken out."

The crisis, however, may not end soon, according to Duterte, because troops have to move carefully to ensure the safety of about 300 hostages he said are being held by the gunmen. "I don't want these innocent people to be slaughtered," he said.

Congress overwhelmingly voted on Saturday to grant Duterte's request to extend martial law in the south to the end of the year to allow Duterte to deal with the Marawi crisis and stamp out other extremist groups across the south, something five presidents before him have failed to do.

About half a million people have been displaced by the Marawi fighting. Some have threatened to march back to the still-besieged city to escape the squalor in overcrowded evacuation camps in nearby towns. Rebuilding Marawi will require massive funds and national focus and will be fraught with pitfalls. Amid the despair and gargantuan rebuilding, it's important "to ensure that extremist teachings do not find fertile ground," said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

Despite criticism and threats of criminal prosecution, Duterte said his drug crackdown, which has left thousands of suspects dead, will go on. "Do not try to scare me with prison or the International Court of Justice," he said Monday. "I'm willing to go to prison for the rest of my life." He reiterated his plea that Congress reimpose the death penalty for drug offenders and others.

"The fight will not stop until those who deal in (drugs) understand that they have to stop because the alternatives are either jail or hell," Duterte said, to applause from his national police chief, Ronald del Rosa, and other supporters in the audience.

Related: Duterte Calls U.S. 'Lousy' and Vows Never to Visit

During the campaign, he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs in three to six months and repeatedly threatened traffickers with death. But he missed his deadline and later declared he would fight the menace until his last day in office. When then-U.S. President Barack Obama, along with European Union and U.N. rights officials, raised alarm over the mounting death toll from the crackdown, Duterte lashed out at them, telling Obama to "go to hell." Duterte's fiercest critic at home, Sen. Leila del Lima, was detained in February on drug charges she said were baseless.

More than 5,200 suspects have died so far, including more than 3,000 in reported gunbattles with police and more than 2,000 others in drug-related attacks by motorcycle-riding masked gunmen and other assaults, police said. Human rights groups have reported a higher toll and called for an independent investigation into Duterte's possible role in the violence.

Duterte "has unleashed a human rights calamity on the Philippines in his first year in office," U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said. In April, a lawyer filed a complaint of crimes against humanity against Duterte and other officials in connection with the drug killings before the International Criminal Court. An impeachment complaint against the president was dismissed in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Duterte's allies.

More than a month into Duterte's presidency, the Philippines won a landmark arbitration case before a tribunal in The Hague that invalidated China's massive territorial claims in the South China Sea under a 1982 U.N. maritime treaty.

Aiming to turn around his country's frosty relations with China, Duterte refused to demand immediate Chinese compliance with the ruling. He promised he would take it up with Beijing at some point. Confronting China, which has dismissed the ruling as a sham, risks sparking an armed conflict that the Philippines would surely lose, Duterte contended.

In a news conference Monday, Duterte said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping during a Beijing visit last year that the Philippines would drill for oil in disputed areas it asserts as its own, and that Xi responded that such an action would spark an armed confrontation.

Nationalists and critics blasted Duterte for what they see as a sellout to China. After the Xi meeting, China allowed Filipino fishermen to return to Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal, where Chinese coast guard ships drove Filipinos away in 2012.

The Philippines had been the most vocal critic of China's assertive behavior in the disputed waters until Duterte took power and reached out to Beijing, partly to secure funding for infrastructure projects.

His move has de-escalated tensions in the busy sea, but critics have warned that Duterte's friendly overtures to China may erode the country's chances of demanding that China comply with the ruling and relinquish its claims to waters regarded as the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to forge on with his controversial war on drugs and said no amount of criticism or international pressure would deter him.

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to forge on with his controversial war on drugs and said no amount of criticism or international pressure would deter him.

Delivering his annual State of the Nation address, Duterte said his critics at home and abroad should focus on using their influence to educate Filipinos of the ills of illicit drugs.

"The fight will be unremitting as it will be unrelenting," he said. "There is a jungle out there, there are beasts out there preying on the innocent, the helpless."</s>MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to forge on with his controversial war on drugs and said no amount of criticism or international pressure would deter him.

Delivering his annual State of the Nation address, Duterte said his critics at home and abroad should focus on using their influence to educate Filipinos of the ills of illicit drugs.

"The fight will be unremitting as it will be unrelenting," he said. "There is a jungle out there, there are beasts out there preying on the innocent, the helpless."</s>MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit back on Friday at U.S. lawmakers opposed to the prospect of his visiting the White House, saying he would never go to the United States, which he called a "lousy" country.

Duterte was responding to remarks by Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern, who told a hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that he would protest against such a visit if U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on an invitation to the firebrand Philippine leader.

The commission, made up of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, convened on Thursday in Washington for a hearing on Duterte's deadly, year-old war on drugs, which has killed thousands of Philippine citizens.

Human rights groups say many of the deaths were executions by police, an assertion the authorities reject.

"There will never be a time that I will go to America during my term, or even thereafter," said Duterte, who has made no secret of his grudge against the United States, his country's oldest ally.

"So what makes that guy think I'll go to America?" he told reporters, referring to McGovern.

"I've seen America and it's lousy... it would be good for the U.S. Congress to start with their own investigation of their own violations of the so many civilians killed in the prosecution of the wars in the Middle East," he added.

"Otherwise I will be forced to investigate you also. I will start with your past sins."

Trump came under heavy criticism in Washington when he invited Duterte to the White House during a telephone conversation in April. He did not say when.

Duterte's spokesman said Trump had told his Philippine counterpart he was doing a "great job". A leaked transcript obtained by the New York Times backed that up, quoting Trump commending Duterte for his "unbelievable job on the drug problem".</s>Rodrigo Duterte said miners have "considerably neglected" their duty to protect the environment.</s>MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to forge on with his controversial war on drugs and said no amount of criticism or international pressure would deter him.

Delivering his annual State of the Nation address, Duterte said his critics at home and abroad should focus on using their influence to educate Filipinos of the ills of illicit drugs.

"No matter how long it takes, the fight against illegal drugs will continue because that is the root cause of so much evil and so much suffering," Duterte told lawmakers from both houses of Congress.



"The fight will be unremitting as it will be unrelenting," he said. "There is a jungle out there, there are beasts out there preying on the innocent, the helpless."

Duterte swept to victory in last year's presidential elections after promising an unprecedented crackdown on drugs in which tens of thousands of people would die.

Since he took office on Jun 30 last year, police have reported killing nearly 3,200 people in the drug war.

More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes, according to police data. Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by vigilante death squads linked to the government.

Duterte on Monday also urged lawmakers to reintroduce the death penalty.

"I ask Congress to act on legislation to reimpose the death penalty on heinous crimes, especially illegal drug trafficking," Duterte said.

He emphasised that capital punishment was about "retribution" as much as deterrence.

"In the Philippines, it is really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You took a life, you must pay it to die. That is the only way to get even."

The lower house of Congress this year passed a bill to bring back the death penalty, but the Senate has yet to approve it.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A year ago Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte promised to cleanse his Southeast Asian nation of illegal drugs in three to six months. He said he would tame corruption and began a profanity-spiked tongue lashing of America — which he called “lousy” last week. Those “shock and awe” declarations of a year ago have collided with reality. Drugs and corruption have persisted and he grudgingly thanked the United States recently for helping to quell a disastrous siege in the south by pro-Islamic State group militants.

Thousands of protesters marched with Duterte’s effigy Monday to demand that he deliver on promises he made in his first state of the nation speech last year, from pressing peace talks with Marxist guerrillas, which is currently on hold, to upholding human rights and the rule of law.

A look at the major issues confronting Duterte as he enters his second year in power.

Two months after more than 600 pro-Islamic State group militants blasted their way into southern city of Marawi, the military is still fighting the last gunmen — fewer than 100, about 10 of them foreign — in the last three occupied villages. Congress overwhelmingly voted on Saturday to grant Duterte’s request to extend martial law in the south to the year’s end to allow Duterte to deal with the Marawi crisis, the worst in his yearlong presidency, and stamp out other extremist groups across the south, something five presidents before him have failed to do.

About half a million people have been displaced by the fighting, some of whom have threatened to march back to the still-besieged city to escape the squalor in overcrowded evacuation camps in nearby towns. Rebuilding Marawi will require massive funds and national focus and will be fraught with pitfalls. Amid the despair and gargantuan rebuilding, it’s important “to ensure that extremist teachings do not find fertile ground,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

During the campaign, he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs in three to six months and repeatedly threatened traffickers with death. But he missed his deadline and later declared he would fight the menace until his last day in office. When then-President Barack Obama, along with European Union and U.N. rights officials, raised alarm over the mounting deaths from the crackdown, Duterte lashed at them, once telling Obama to “go to hell.” Duterte’s fiercest critic at home, Sen. Leila del Lima, was detained in February on drug charges she said were baseless.

More than 5,200 suspects have died so far, including more than 3,000 in reported gunbattles with police and more than 2,000 others in drug-related attacks by motorcycle-riding masked gunmen and other assaults, police said. Human rights groups have reported a higher death toll and called for an independent investigation of Duterte’s possible role in the violence.

Duterte “has unleashed a human rights calamity on the Philippines in his first year in office,” U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said. In April, a lawyer filed a complaint of crimes against humanity against Duterte and other officials in connection with the drug killings before the International Criminal Court. An impeachment complaint against the president was dismissed in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Duterte’s allies.

More than a month into Duterte’s presidency, the Philippines won a landmark arbitration case before a tribunal in The Hague that invalidated China’s massive territorial claims in the South China Sea under a 1982 U.N. maritime treaty.

Aiming to turn around his country’s frosty relations with China, Duterte refused to demand immediate Chinese compliance with the ruling. He promised he would take it up with Beijing at some point. Confronting China, which has dismissed the ruling as a sham, risks sparking an armed conflict that the Philippines would surely lose, Duterte contended.

Nationalists and critics blasted Duterte for what they see as a sellout to China. After meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China allowed Filipino fishermen to return to the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal, where Chinese coast guard ships had driven Filipinos away since 2012.

The Philippines had been the most vocal critic of China’s aggressive behavior in the disputed waters until Duterte took power and reached out to Beijing, partly to secure funding for infrastructure projects.

His move has effectively de-escalated tensions in the busy sea, but critics have warned that Duterte’s friendly overtures to China may erode the country’s chances to demand that China comply with the ruling and relinquish its claims to waters regarded as the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.</s>Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte illustrated on Friday the wisdom of the aphorism that “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Reuters reports that Duterte said that America is “lousy,” that he would never again visit America, and that “it would be good for the US Congress to start with their own investigation of their own violations of the so many civilians killed in the prosecution of the wars in the Middle East.”

Duterte made his comments in reaction to United States House of Representatives Member James McGovern (D-MA) stating opposition to Duterte, who has garnered much attention due to the many killings in the name of the war on drugs he is pursuing in the Philippines, coming to America to meet with President Donald Trump.

Notably, McGovern has been one of the US Congress members most active in trying to require congressional votes on the continuation of US wars. Still, Duterte’s comments are well-placed. Hopefully, Duterte’s comments will resonate with Americans and help convince more Americans to call for the US government to reject its pro-war foreign policy.

As Duterte’s comments help make clear, a government that kills overseas in a plethora of aggressive wars, raids, and air strikes is behaving more in a despicable fashion than an exceptional fashion. The US government would do well to reject the advice of war advocates, including those who profit from the military-industrial complex, and embrace Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s wise advice to pursue a noninterventionist foreign policy.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.</s>MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed Monday to continue his bloody war on illegal drugs despite international and domestic criticism and warned that offenders will end up in "jail or hell." In his second state of the nation speech, Duterte also insisted he would not hold peace talks with communist rebels because of continuing attacks.

Security issues dominated his most important annual speech, including a disastrous two-month uprising by pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city, the worst crisis he has faced.

Thousands of protesters marched outside Congress demanding he deliver on a range of promises which mirror the diverse burdens of his presidency, from protecting human rights to improving internet speed.

A look at the most serious issues confronting Duterte as he enters his second year in power.

Two months after more than 600 pro-Islamic State group militants blasted their way into the southern city of Marawi, the military is still fighting the last gunmen — fewer than 100, about 10 of them foreign. Duterte told reporters after his speech Monday that the government counteroffensive will not stop "until the last terrorist is taken out."

The crisis, however, may not end soon, according to Duterte, because troops have to move carefully to ensure the safety of about 300 hostages he said are being held by the gunmen. "I don't want these innocent people to be slaughtered," he said.

Congress overwhelmingly voted on Saturday to grant Duterte's request to extend martial law in the south to the end of the year to allow Duterte to deal with the Marawi crisis and stamp out other extremist groups across the south, something five presidents before him have failed to do.

About half a million people have been displaced by the Marawi fighting. Some have threatened to march back to the still-besieged city to escape the squalor in overcrowded evacuation camps in nearby towns. Rebuilding Marawi will require massive funds and national focus and will be fraught with pitfalls. Amid the despair and gargantuan rebuilding, it's important "to ensure that extremist teachings do not find fertile ground," said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

Despite criticism and threats of criminal prosecution, Duterte said his drug crackdown, which has left thousands of suspects dead, will go on. "Do not try to scare me with prison or the International Court of Justice," he said Monday. "I'm willing to go to prison for the rest of my life." He reiterated his plea that Congress reimpose the death penalty for drug offenders and others.

"The fight will not stop until those who deal in (drugs) understand that they have to stop because the alternatives are either jail or hell," Duterte said, to applause from his national police chief, Ronald del Rosa, and other supporters in the audience.

Related: Duterte Calls U.S. 'Lousy' and Vows Never to Visit

During the campaign, he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs in three to six months and repeatedly threatened traffickers with death. But he missed his deadline and later declared he would fight the menace until his last day in office. When then-U.S. President Barack Obama, along with European Union and U.N. rights officials, raised alarm over the mounting death toll from the crackdown, Duterte lashed out at them, telling Obama to "go to hell." Duterte's fiercest critic at home, Sen. Leila del Lima, was detained in February on drug charges she said were baseless.

More than 5,200 suspects have died so far, including more than 3,000 in reported gunbattles with police and more than 2,000 others in drug-related attacks by motorcycle-riding masked gunmen and other assaults, police said. Human rights groups have reported a higher toll and called for an independent investigation into Duterte's possible role in the violence.

Duterte "has unleashed a human rights calamity on the Philippines in his first year in office," U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said. In April, a lawyer filed a complaint of crimes against humanity against Duterte and other officials in connection with the drug killings before the International Criminal Court. An impeachment complaint against the president was dismissed in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Duterte's allies.

More than a month into Duterte's presidency, the Philippines won a landmark arbitration case before a tribunal in The Hague that invalidated China's massive territorial claims in the South China Sea under a 1982 U.N. maritime treaty.

Aiming to turn around his country's frosty relations with China, Duterte refused to demand immediate Chinese compliance with the ruling. He promised he would take it up with Beijing at some point. Confronting China, which has dismissed the ruling as a sham, risks sparking an armed conflict that the Philippines would surely lose, Duterte contended.

In a news conference Monday, Duterte said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping during a Beijing visit last year that the Philippines would drill for oil in disputed areas it asserts as its own, and that Xi responded that such an action would spark an armed confrontation.

Nationalists and critics blasted Duterte for what they see as a sellout to China. After the Xi meeting, China allowed Filipino fishermen to return to Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal, where Chinese coast guard ships drove Filipinos away in 2012.

The Philippines had been the most vocal critic of China's assertive behavior in the disputed waters until Duterte took power and reached out to Beijing, partly to secure funding for infrastructure projects.

His move has de-escalated tensions in the busy sea, but critics have warned that Duterte's friendly overtures to China may erode the country's chances of demanding that China comply with the ruling and relinquish its claims to waters regarded as the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.</s>President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a turnover ceremony of procured pistols for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at the Malacanang presidential palace in metro Manila, Philippines July 18, 2017. — Reuters picMANILA, July 24 — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed today to press on with his controversial drug war that has claimed thousands of lives, as he outlined his vision of an “eye-for-an-eye” justice system.

Duterte devoted large chunks of his annual State of the Nation Address to pushing his law-and-order policies that have made him hugely popular with many Filipinos but been condemned by human rights groups and other critics.

“No matter how long it takes, the fight against illegal drugs will continue because that is the root cause of so much evil and so much suffering,” Duterte told lawmakers from both houses of Congress.

“The fight will be... unrelenting despite international and local pressures, the fight will not stop until those who deal in it understand that they have to cease, they have to stop because the alternatives are either jail or hell.”

Duterte swept to victory in last year’s presidential elections after promising an unprecedented crackdown on drugs in which tens of thousands of people would die.

Since he took office on June 30 last year, police have reported killing nearly 3,200 people in the drug war.

More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes, according to police data. Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by vigilante death squads linked to the government.

Duterte today also urged lawmakers to reintroduce the death penalty.

“I ask Congress to act on legislation to reimpose the death penalty on heinous crimes, especially illegal drug trafficking,” Duterte said.

He emphasised that capital punishment was about “retribution” as much as deterrence.

“In the Philippines, it is really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You took a life, you must pay it to die. That is the only way to get even.”

The lower house of Congress this year passed a bill to bring back the death penalty, but the Senate has yet to approve it. — AFP
In alleged emulation of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announces orders for police to "shoot" suspected drug dealers without trial.