PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has until 2022 or the end of his term to fulfill his promise of solving the country’s drug problem, according to House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
He made the statement after Duterte said he would need one more year to finish his war on drugs.
“In fact, he has until 2022 to do it, which is the end of his term,” Alvarez said in a television interview on Thursday.
He made his statement even as Senator Win Gatchalian said fear of God alone was clearly not enough to prevent police scalawags from committing extrajudicial killings during the PNP’s previous drug war operations.
He said it was “absolutely absurd” to suggest that the fear of divine retribution in the afterlife would be more effective than body cameras in addressing police impunity and holding dirty cops accountable for their crimes.
Gatchalian, a Duterte ally, was reacting to the statement of Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group head Joseph Adnol, who was quoted by as saying “For me, there really is no need for a body cam, our camera as policemen is God.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said Friday the Duterte administration had not shown any proof that it was willing to investigate the deaths caused by his war on drugs.
Non-governmental organizations and media outlets estimate that more than 12,000 people had died over the past 16 months during the war on drugs, HRW said.
It made its statement even as Senator Leila de Lima said the return of the Philippine National Police to the government’s war against illegal drugs would result in more killings.
Duterte ran for the presidency in the 2016 elections based on a platform of change and the promise that he would rid the country of illegal drugs and corruption.
Back then, he vowed to solve the country’s drug problem in the first six months of his presidency, but after the first few months of being in office he asked for another six months.
In August this year, Duterte said the drug problem could not be solved in the single term of a president.
On Wednesday, he asked for one more year to finish his administration’s was on drugs.
