Philippine police kill six bodyguards of drug-linked mayor

Filipino Mayor of Albuera town in Leyte Rolando Espinosa, who is allegedly involved in the drug trade, with the Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa after Espinosa surrenderedShow more

MANILA // Six people were killed on Wednesday when Philippine police commandos clashed with the bodyguards of a town mayor linked to illegal drugs.

The deaths were the latest casualties in a bloody crackdown on drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte said he would not halt even at the risk of losing his presidency.

Regional police chief Elmer Beltejar said police were patrolling near the house of Mayor Rolando Espinosa Senior in the central town of Albuera when they were fired upon by the mayor’s bodyguards. The police fired back, killing six bodyguards, he said.

The clash came a day after Mr Espinosa surrendered to national police chief Ronald dela Rosa. Authorities allege he has been protecting drug dealers, including his son Erwin, whom he urged to surrender.

Mr Espinosa surrendered within a 24-hour deadline given to him by Mr Duterte before a “shoot-on-sight order” would be issued against him and his son. Mr Dela Rosa warned that the younger Espinosa “will die” if he elects to shoot it out with police.

As the number of suspected drug dealers and users killed in his crackdown rose to more than 400, Mr Duterte said he will not stop his anti-drug battle even at the risk of losing his presidency. He said he has asked for rehabilitation centres to be opened in regions across the country to accommodate the thousands of surrendering drug users.

“If that’s the only way to try to scare me, by impeachment, go ahead,” Mr Duterte said. “It’s a war, it’s not a crisis. It’s not easy to take a human life but I’m sorry.”

Mr Duterte took office in June, and since then 402 suspected drug traffickers have been killed in clashes with police. At least 4,418 others have been arrested.

Mr Duterte, a former prosecutor and mayor of southern Davao city, where he built a reputation for tough anti-crime methods, won the presidential election earlier this year on a promise to end criminality and corruption in the first three to six months of his presidency.

He encouraged police and even ordinary citizens to shoot suspected drug dealers if they resist arrest, and promised cash rewards if they turn in drug lords.

Yury Fedotov, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, condemned the government’s apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which he described as illegal and a violation of fundamental rights.

“Such responses contravene the provisions of the international drug control conventions, do not serve the cause of justice, and will not help to ensure that ‘all people can live in health, dignity and peace, with security and prosperity,”’ he said in a statement.

Philippine Senator Leila M De Lima, decried on Tuesday the “do-it- yourself justice” system under Mr Duterte.

*Associated Press