President Rodrigo Duterte is prepared to take “calibrated” action and set aside human rights considerations to combat the “looming terrorism” in the country.
The president cautioned that the country must be ready to deal with the possible influx of Islamic militants who have no regard for human rights.
“Once the terrorists of the Middle East are the pride of the land area, a real estate were they can sleep, stand on, or just simply sit down, they would wander to other places and they will come here, and we have to prepare for that,” the president said during a visit to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) office in Manila.
“Remember, these guys, they do not have an iota of what a human right is, believe me, so we will have a calibrated thing here. I will not just sit down and allow my people to be slaughtered, for the sake of human rights. That’s b***,” he added.
Duterte said the Philippines has already forged a pact with Indonesia and Malaysia to step up cooperation to combat the threat of terrorism in the region.
He pointed out that terrorists, who have attacked children and other innocents in Syria and Iraq, could not be fought with just human rights.
“Can you fight them with human rights? Where’s the human rights in Syria? In Aleppo now, in Mosul? They’re bombing children, killing them executing everyone,” he said.
“Is there a crime for human rights there? I haven’t heard. I haven’t heard the human rights crime to that,” he added.
The president earlier threatened to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a legal safeguard against warrantless arrests and illegal detention, if lawlessness escalates in the country.
Duterte said he was ready to employ such executive power amid the raging rebellion waged by the Maute terror group in Mindanao as well as the widespread drug operations in the country. He claimed that building cases against lawless elements might take too much time and resources.
The post Duterte Ready to set Aside Human Rights to Fight Terrorism appeared first on Manila Bulletin
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