The Philippines House of Representatives referred an impeachment bid against President Rodrigo Duterte to the justice committee today. Although Duterte’s allies hold the majority of seats in the House, opponents are urging the justice panel not to dismiss the complaint without a proper hearing.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has dropped all pretenses that his infamous drug war is anything but a war on the poor. “They say, ‘Duterte kills the poor.’ I haven’t heard of the children of [billionaires] Lucio Tan or Gokongwei selling drugs,” the president said in a speech on Saturday, according to Rappler. “Of course it will be the poor people, because the poor are ignorant and more likely to be hit.”
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has revived his bloody war on drugs, and it’s bigger than ever. Last week, the strongman president signed an executive order published Friday that pulls 21 state agencies into the drug war under the joint command of a new “super agency.”
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has suspended police from drug operations amid a corruption probe, but his bloody war on drugs will continue under the military and drug enforcement agency until the end of his term in 2022. Despite the investigation, Amnesty International warned in a report released Tuesday that the corruption traces to the “very top of government,” and the resulting killings that target the poor may amount to crimes against humanity.