Duterte puts bounty on ‘rogue’ policemen

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday announced “dead-or-alive” bounties worth $40,000 each for policemen he accused of helping an accused narco-politician, and said he preferred they be killed.The call for police officers to kill their colleagues is the latest inflammatory comment by Duterte in his controversial drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives, and comes shortly after a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.Duterte made the offer during a speech at national police headquarters, offering 2mn pesos ($40,000) for an unspecified number of officers who allegedly helped a mayor killed in an anti-drug operation on July 30.“Each of those policemen carry on their heads now, I am announcing, 2mn per head and you are free to go on leave (to pursue them),” Duterte told the officers in the audience.“I’ll cut short my speech so that you will have a chance for a crack at the 2mn for those idiots.”Duterte added the bounty would be paid if the policemen were found “dead or alive — better dead”. He said the unidentified policemen had worked with Reynaldo Parojinog, the mayor of the southern city of Ozamiz, who was killed in the pre-dawn raid along with his wife, his brother and 13 other people.Police said they were forced to kill the 16 people in self-defence, but Parojinog’s lawyer has insisted the mayor and others had not resisted arrest. Duterte had accused Parojinog of being a major drug trafficker.As he has done in similar cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, Duterte yesterday also vowed to give legal protection to the policemen who killed Parojinog and the other 15. If they were found guilty of murder, he would pardon them, he vowed.Duterte easily won presidential elections last year after promising an unprecedented war on drugs in which tens of thousands of people would be killed.Since he took office in the middle of last year, police have confirmed killing more than 3,400 people in anti-drug operations.More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data.Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by government-backed vigilantes, and Duterte has boasted that he would be “happy to slaughter” 3mn drug addicts.Former US president Barack Obama was among the many international critics of Duterte’s tactics.But criticism from the United States, the Philippines’ former colonial ruler and mutual defence partner, has been toned down under the administration of Donald Trump.Tillerson met Duterte in Manila on Monday on the sidelines of a regional security forum. Duterte said American officials did not raise any concerns with him.The United States is weighing additional support to the Philippine military as it fights an Islamist insurgency in the south, a US defence official said Tuesday.Discussions are “pretty advanced” and would see the US provide increased surveillance drone capabilities and training for local forces, the official told AFP on condition on anonymity.The drones could hypothetically be used to conduct strikes, the official added, although that would only be for self-defence reasons to protect US or partner forces, and would not signal another front in America’s drone wars.“It’s not necessarily what those (drones) are there for. Those are there for ISR and support,” the official said, using an abbreviation for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.The Philippines’ Department of National Defense said there had been no discussions regarding the use of US drones to strike IS-inspired “terrorist groups.” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Logan said all military assistance in the Philippines is conducted at the request of the government.“We respect the sovereignty of the Philippines, and we are not pursuing unilateral action in the Philippines,” he said.Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked lawmakers to approve the recruiting of 20,000 more soldiers to tackle increased security threats following a bloody urban siege in the south.Almost 700 people have been killed, according to the official count, in over two months of fighting in the southern city of Marawi against Islamist militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.The militants, waving the black IS flag, have occupied parts of Marawi since May 23, prompting Duterte to declare martial law in the entire southern region of Mindanao.US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday called the crisis in Marawi a “tragic situation” and said US forces were providing surveillance aircraft and important advice for the Philippines forces in the battle there.The US has for years provided intel to the Philippines and has between 300 and 500 special operations and regular forces stationed in the country.