PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he had a one-page list containing the names of Chinese drug lords, adding it was his “thickest-ever” third list of the drug lords operating in the country.
He said there were 40 judges in the list.
“With regard to our Chinese friends, there’s one page here … judges there are about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 … 40, distributed all around,” Duterte said in a speech in Camp Elias Angeles in Pili, Camarines Sur.
He also said there was no need to impose Martial Law to fight illegal drugs in the country.
But he said if he were already President when the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary was discovered, he would have declared Martial Law.
Duterte made his statement even as National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Wednesday defended Duterte’s push for federalism in the country and at the same time denied the chief executive was planning to declare Martial Law.
He also denied that the administration was planning a “constitutional dictatorship” for Duterte.
A transcription of Duterte’s speech provided by the News and Information Bureau under the Presidential Communications Office named the Chinese drug lords as Fu Juju, Kan Fu Chong, Fu Chan Jiang, Wang Jang Din, Wang Jan Pin, Jiang Shin Zhu and a certain Diana Lagman who resides in Pampanga.
Asked for clarification on the names and the drug list, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said he would first have to ask the President.
“[Duterte] keeps the records close to his chest. I will ask [him] once I see him,” he said.
Duterte said he would give copies of his drug list to the military and the police.
During his speech in Camp Tecson in Bulacan last week, Duterte said at least 1,000 politicians and public officials were included in his final drug list.
He said the list contained the names of policemen, judges, village captains, mayors and governors.
He also asked for a six-month extension of his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in the country, saying there were too many people involved in the narcotics trade and that he “cannot kill them all.”
“I did not realize how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president,” Duterte said.
Since July, more than 700,000 drug addicts have surrendered to authorities in his war on illegal drugs, while some 1,105 suspected drug pushers have been killed.
Another 2,035 have been murdered by unknown assailants, with human rights monitors saying those could be vigilantes emboldened by Duterte’s repeated calls for the public to help him kill criminals.