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Duterte pushes on with ‘eye for an eye’ legal system

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Monday (July 24) 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.

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Monday (July 24) 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.

Mr 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 seen him 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,” Mr Duterte told lawmakers.

“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.”

Mr 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.

“Do not try to scare me with prison or the International Court of Justice,” said Mr Duterte. “I’m willing to go to prison for the rest of my life.”

He reiterated his plea for Congress to reimpose the death penalty for drug offenders and others, adding that capital punishment is 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,” he said.

“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,” the president added, to applause from his national police chief, Mr Ronald del Rosa, and other supporters in the audience.

The Lower House of Congress this year passed a Bill to bring back the death penalty, but the Senate has yet to approve it.

Ahead of his address, several thousand left-wing protesters marched with Mr Duterte’s effigy to the House of Representatives to demand he deliver on promises made in his first state of the nation speech last year, from holding peace talks with communist insurgents to improving internet speed.

Riot police, without batons and shields to underscore a policy of maximum tolerance toward demonstrators, separated the protesters from a smaller group of Duterte supporters outside the heavily guarded building.

Inside, left-wing legislators sought ingenious ways to protest. Ms Arlene Brosas wore a black dress with a hand-painted message by a former political prisoner saying “No to Martial Law.”

Mr Duterte won congressional approval on Saturday for an extension of martial law in the south to deal with the siege of Marawi city by pro-Islamic State group militants, the worst crisis he has faced since taking power last year. AGENCIES

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