Duterte not for summary killings after Ban criticism

Manila / AFP

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte does not endorse extrajudicial killings, his spokesman said on Saturday after scathing criticism from the UN chief over his plans for thousands of people to die in an unprecedented war on crime.
Duterte won last month’s elections by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals.
He has since offered large bounties to security forces as well as the general public to kill drug traffickers.
However his spokesman insisted Saturday Duterte did not support extrajudicial killings.
“The president-elect has not endorsed—cannot—and will never endorse extrajudicial killings, they being contrary to law,” Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
“He does not condone the killing of journalists nor any citizen for that matter, regardless of its purpose.”
Panelo said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon believed “incorrect news reports” when he condemned Duterte’s apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.
Ban said in a speech in New York on Wednesday that he was “extremely disturbed” by Duterte’s remarks, voicing particular concern over his comments seen as justifying killing journalists.
Duterte, who takes office on June 30, told reporters last week that journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities were legitimate targets of assassination.