Philippines mayor accused by Duterte of drugs trade links shot dead

Authored by bbc.com and submitted by whako_
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Image copyright Getty Images Image caption President Duterte's war on drugs has reportedly left more than 7,000 people dead in a year

A Philippine mayor accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of having links with the illegal drugs trade has been shot dead in a police raid.

Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of the city of Ozamiz on Mindanao island, was killed with his wife and 10 others at his home as police served a warrant.

Officers were fired on by the mayor's security guards, officials said.

More than 7,000 people are said to have been killed since Mr Duterte launched a war on the drugs trade in July 2016.

Police were serving an arrest warrant when they were "met with a volley of fire" by Mr Parojinog's security guards, officials said.

"The Parojinogs, if you would recall, are included in President Duterte's list of people involved in the illegal drug trade," Mr Duterte's spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Parojinogs denied that there had been any exchange of fire and said the mayor's camp did not fire a shot.

Mr Parojinog's brother was also killed in the dawn raid in Ozamiz. His daughter, the city's vice-mayor, was arrested and faces charges relating to drugs offences, police said.

Officers recovered rifles, cash and illegal drugs at the address, according to provincial police chief Jaysen De Guzman.

Mr Parojinog is the third Philippine mayor to be killed in the government's bloody narcotics crackdown, in which Mr Duterte has singled out local officials, policemen and judges.

The move has made him popular with many Filipinos but has been condemned by human rights groups and other critics.

Mr Duterte took office just over a year ago following an election campaign in which he promised to kill tens of thousands in order to put an end to the illegal drugs trade.

Earlier this month, legislators in the Philippines voted overwhelmingly to extend martial law in Mindanao to help deal with violence on the island linked to an Islamist insurgency.

Mr Duterte said the extension was necessary to crush the insurgency, but his critics have said that it is part of a wider power grab.

S4ngin on July 30th, 2017 at 15:44 UTC »

Step 1 - Normalize killing drug users and dealers with or without trial.

Step 2 - Accuse political rivals of being tied up in drug rings.

Step 3 - Remove 'problematic' democracy that tie the hands of a great dict...I mean leader.

tatertatertatertot on July 30th, 2017 at 15:30 UTC »

Both Turkey and the Philippines seem like countries that are/were incredibly well-placed geographically and in the current era to succeed wildly, but have gone down very dark authoritarian paths that will doom them for decades to come..

Shiba-Shiba on July 30th, 2017 at 12:59 UTC »

Elimination of opposition couldn't be easier in Philippines - Accuse, Kill.