Philippine president-elect Duterte vows to kill criminals

Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte vowed today to reintroduce capital punishment and give security forces "shoot-to-kill" orders.
In his first press conference since winning the May 9 elections in a landslide, the tough-talking mayor of southern Davao city warned his constant campaign threats to kill were not rhetoric.
"What I will do is urge Congress to restore death penalty by hanging," Duterte told a press conference in the southern city of Davao.
He also said he would give security forces "shoot-to-kill" orders against organised criminals or those who violently resisted arrest.
"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," he said.

He added military sharp shooters would be enlisted in his campaign to kill criminals.

Duterte, 71, said he wanted capital punishment -- which was abolished in 2006 under then-president Gloria Arroyo -- to be reintroduced for a wide range of crimes, particularly drugs, but also rape, murder and robbery.
The centrepiece of Duterte's stunningly successful election campaign strategy 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.

On one occasion he said 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.
He complained that people no longer feared the law, and he would change that.
"We have a society now where obedience to the law is really a choice, an option only," he said.
"Do not destroy my country because I will kill you. I will kill you. No middle ground. As long as the requirements of the law are there, if you try to evade arrest, refuse arrest... and you put up a good fight or resist violently, I will say: 'Kill them'."

Duterte is due to be sworn into office on June 30 for a six-year term.
The current president, Benigno Aquino, warned repeatedly during the campaign that Duterte was a dictator in the making and would bring terror to the nation.