Philippines

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte admits he underestimated the drug problem and reiterated orders for law enforcement to “destroy” criminals dealing narcotics.
Speaking at the opening of a solar energy facility on Wednesday, Duterte said he made a mistake in promising during his election campaign that he could eradicate drugs within a matter of months.

Australia on Aug. 24 defended its most senior intelligence chief after he was pictured posing with a clenched fist alongside Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, an image rights groups said undermines criticism of Duterte's war on drugs.

The Philippine police said today that they have killed 32 people in operations aimed at terrorists among drug traffickers, the France press reported.

Philippine police killed 32 people in "shock and awe" raids aimed at scaring drug traffickers, authorities said Aug. 16, after President Rodrigo Duterte admitted to setbacks in his controversial crime war.

The U.S. and Russia on Tuesday separately reiterated their support for the Philippines in its fight against terrorism and illegal drugs, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Philippines said Aug. 4 it would tell visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson his concerns over its drug war that has claimed thousands of lives were due to "exaggerated media reports."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit back on July 21 at U.S. lawmakers opposed to the prospect of his visiting the White House, saying he would never go to the United States, which he called a "lousy" country.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened on July 19 to end peace talks with communist rebels, hours after suspected guerrillas wounded four of his military bodyguards in an ambush.

President Rodrigo Duterte plans to extend martial law in the southern Philippines to defeat Islamist militants who have seized a major city, his spokesman said on July 18, as a critic warned the country could be edging towards a dictatorship.

President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte wants the extension of martial law in Mindanao until the end of the year, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Duterte, in a letter to Congress, said the “existing rebellion” in Mindanao would not end on July 22, the 60th day in the limit prescribed by the Constitution.