Duterte, mayors meet on killings

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Local government executives need not fear for their safety if they are not into illegal drugs, according to President Duterte.

The President addressed more than 300 local officials from all over Mindanao in a conference over the weekend in this city.

The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) has sought Duterte’s help in light of the recent spate of killings of mayors and vice mayors.

He vowed no letup against illegal drugs, criminality and guns for hire, stressing that he would further intensify the fight even if he lands in prison.

“Magwala ako. Lalargahan ko ‘yan. Makulong na kung makulong,” Duterte said at the meeting.

The President said that as promised, he would finish everything before he steps down from office.

“Basta yang drugs, criminality, murder for hire, lahat yan tatapusin ko yan. Lalargahan ko yan,” the President said.

Duterte will deliver his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

He said that people might think he is proceeding slowly, but they have to wait until the end of his term.

The President said there will also be no letup in his administration’s fight against corruption.

Addressing the LMP’s concerns about their safety, he said he was just joking when at another event in Bohol, he told the vice mayors, especially the young ones who cannot wait, to do away with their mayors.

Duterte said the killings of local officials could either be due to drugs or politics since the midterm elections will take place next year.

He told the Mindanao local executives that there is nothing to fear if they are not into illegal drugs.

But at the same time, Duterte cautioned them that there is also the reality of violence in politics in certain places in the country particularly those areas where political rivalry is intense.

“Our country is governed by laws and not the caprices of men. If some people believe that their elected officials have committed an offense, they should bring their grievances to the courts, which have the power to determine the guilt of erring officials and impose the corresponding penalty. The rule of law mandates that man should not put the law into one’s own hands, or he will become a criminal himself punishable according to law,” the LMP said in a statement.

The town mayors appealed to the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation to step up their investigations on the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.