The mercurial leader ruled out declaring martial law and said he did not need extra powers, but wanted to bring the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into his drugs war because he could no longer trust law enforcement agencies. Duterte has placed an anti-drugs agency in charge of the campaign and has said he wants the armed forces to play a supportive role. Duterte did not say what the remit of the military would be in the drugs campaign, or give any indication of the number of troops that would be involved, but said they were necessary. Some 7,600 people have been killed since Duterte launched his war on drugs seven months ago, more than 2,500 in what police say were shootouts during raids and sting operations. I will kill more if only to get rid of drugs and this campaign," he said.

Source: The Star February 02, 2017 13:07 UTC