Criminals will hang – twice – vows tough-talking Philippines president-elect Duterte

Philippines’ president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to introduce executions by hanging and order military snipers to kill suspected criminals as part of a ruthless law-and-order crackdown. In his first press conference since winning the May 9 elections in a landslide, the tough-talking mayor of southern Davao city said security forces would be given “shoot-to-kill” orders and that citizens would learn to fear the law. "Those who destroy the lives of our children will be destroyed,“ Duterte said as he outlined on his war on crime once he is sworn into office on June 30. "Those who kill my country will be killed. Simple as that. No middle ground. No apologies. No excuses.”

After you are hanged first, there will be another ceremony for the second time until the head is completely severed from the body. I like that because I am mad.

Philippines’ president-elect Rodrigo Duterte

The centrepiece of Duterte’s stunningly successful election campaign was a pledge to end crime within three to six months of being elected. Duterte vowed during the campaign to kill tens of thousands criminals, outraging his critics but hypnotising tens of millions of Filipinos fed up with rampant crime and graft. He said on one occasion that 100,000 people would die, and so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish would grow fat from feeding on them. Duterte has been accused of running vigilante death squads during his more than two decades as mayor of Davao, a city of about two million people that he says he has turned into one of the nations safest.

If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police (will be) to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organised crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organised crime.

Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte