During his reign, vigilante death squads were associated with the street killings of more than 1,000 criminal suspects and drug dealers. He said that he will also pay officers for each criminal who is wounded. “If you kill a criminal in the line of duty, you’ll be rewarded, no questions asked,” he said. Human Rights Watch said that paying money for police to kill criminal suspects was a repugnant attempt to legitimise secret death squads. Tomas Osmena, the new leader of Cebu City, said that he will give officers 50,000 pesos for each wrongdoer killed “in the line of duty” as well as protect them from prosecution.

Source: National Post May 21, 2016 09:18 UTC