Pubdate: Tue, 10 Aug 2004
Source: Today (Philippines)
Copyright: 2004 Today
Contact:  http://www.today.net.ph/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3458
Author: M. Cayon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DUTERTE DARES CRITICS: GO OUT, HELP REFORM ADDICTS

DAVAO CITY - Irked by perennial criticism on police inability to solve the 
killings of persons engaged in the illegal-drug trade, Mayor Rodrigo 
Duterte branded his critics as "reactive idiots" and urged them to seek out 
wanted persons and warn them to reform or leave the city.

"These reactive idiots, I may call them, don't just sit there and wait for 
the next victim to fall. Seek them out and help reform them or warn them to 
leave the city," he said in his regular Sunday television program Monday 
morning.

He dared his critics, mainly from the moderate and militant nongovernment 
organizations, to "get the list [of wanted persons] from the PDEA 
[Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency], it's public, go to these persons and 
tell them [wanted persons] to reform."

"Go out of your way instead. You can't do anything just by shouting every 
time some drug addicts is killed," he said.

He reiterated that the shadowy antidrug vigilante group, called here as the 
Davao Death Squad (DDS), was not government-created, but admitted that the 
group "gets there first before we can get these [wanted persons] ourselves."

At least another six persons believed hooked on drugs were killed in a 
killing spree on Thursday and Friday, all attributed to the DDA. The 
killings have reached more than 50 this year, and unconfirmed talks 
continued to circulate that there were at least 500 persons in the wanted 
list of the PDEA.

The victims were often those on the wanted list of the PDEA. The killings 
started in 1992, and occurred in episodes of several months, before a lull. 
Each episode of killings would leave at least more than 50 killings. Last 
year, about 90 persons were killed, all still unsolved.

City residents were divided on the issue, however. Some government 
officials have "personally" favored the move "to make the city more 
peaceful and safe from criminals."

"I don't know who [coined] that [DDS] but I tell you, there are persons who 
won't accept these deeds of [drug-crazed] criminals who would kill innocent 
lives and destroy the communities," Duterte said.

He said that the DDS "is much better than you [critics] because it did 
something to the problem."

He added that the "criminals" have become younger and bolder, "I have 
interviewed 14- and 15-year olds."

"These are the persons who do not respect the law and who do not care for 
human rights," he said.

"Seek them out and tell them to reform, if they can, or tell them to 
leave," he said apparently addressing his critics. "Those who have money, 
or buildings, hire them and allow them to reform now."

But he warned that studies have indicated that "there is a strange medical 
and psychological effect of drugs on persons."

"I'm gonna tell you, that nine out of 10 persons who are rehabilitated 
usually slide or go back to their old ways. There's no cure for that," he 
said. "So, don't give that line 'why did they kill him when he has reformed?'"

The problem was, he said, "Everybody surrenders, but many returns 
immediately to buying shabu."

Child experts, however, said that given proper intervention and 
rehabilitation, juvenile delinquents could go back and live normal 
lives.More than 3,000 persons who thought their names were on the hit list 
of the police and the DDS have surrendered this year. The police said it 
was studying the possibility of asking the city to build a second 
rehabilitation center.

The center here could house 300 clients. Its facilities were considered as 
the most modern and the best in the country.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager