Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) vice presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is set to continue her father President Duterte's war against crime and illegal drugs, noting that it's been proven effective.
"Ang sa atin, itutuloy natin ‘yung mga nasimulan ni Pangulong Duterte. Nakita natin na sa kanyang administrasyon, bumaba talaga ‘yung crime rate sa buong Pilipinas at ang gagawin natin is to--kung ano ‘yung ginawa natin doon sa Davao City (For us, we will continue what President Duterte started. We saw that under his administration, the crime rate really went down in the Philippines and what I will do is to do what we did in Davao City),” said Duterte-Carpio during an ambush interview in Batangas on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
According to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday, Feb. 21, the crime rate in the Philippines dropped 73.76 percent since the start of President Duterte’s administration in 2016, in part due to the administration’s stance against crime and drugs.
"I-emphasize natin sa ating mga law enforcement agencies particularly sa ating mga kapulisan, sa Philippine National Police (PNP) natin na ang unang-unang trabaho nila, isang pantay-pantay na enforcement ng ating batas (Let’s emphasize with our law enforcement agencies, particularly the PNP, that their primary focus should be equal enforcement of the law),” she explained.
“That is the reason why Davao City is awarded one of the best city police office dahil naiintindihan nila kung ano ‘yung mga dapat nilang gawin (because they understand what do do), particularly against anti-criminality,” Duterte-Carpio said.
The current administration's signature "war on drugs" has drawn much flak from human rights groups both local and international, and according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 8,000 were killed from 2016 to 2019, though some human rights groups have alleged that the number could range from 20,000 to 30,000.
Prior to the suspension of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation on the drug war in the Philippines, the tribunal was looking into reports of extrajudicial killings (EJK) in Davao City specifically from November 2011 to June 2016 and EJK cases nationwide from July 2016 to March 2019.
Duterte-Carpio, who served as Davao City Mayor from 2010 to 2013 and again from 2016 to present day, is running for vice president in the 2022 polls alongside presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. under the UniTeam banner.