Rodrigo Duterte, the ever-controversial president of the Philippines, rolled out a novel plan for reducing his military budget on Wednesday: he offered to pay a $500 bounty for every Communist insurgent killed.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court announced on Thursday that she has launched preliminary probes of police and security forces in the Philippines and Venezuela, which have been accused of using excessive force against suspected drug traffickers and political demonstrators, respectively.
Militants allied with the Islamic State reportedly looted a fortune in cash, gold, and jewelry from the Philippine city of Marawi during their five-month occupation last year, and have used their booty to recruit hundreds of new terrorist operatives. Although its ambitions to use Marawi as the capital of a new caliphate were thwarted, ISIS has grown strong enough to battle Philippine troops again over the weekend.
The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard made an unannounced visit to the Philippines where she gave a speech at a policy forum in Quezon City on Friday.
The New York Times’ editorial board published a commentary focused on a Philippine lawyer’s request to the International Criminal Court in the Hague to charge the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, with mass murder and crimes against humanity for his crackdown on drug traffickers.
Speaking at a news conference in Qatar, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte compared himself to U.S. President Donald Trump as a leader criticized for bold speech, but he praised Trump as “a realist and a pragmatic thinker.”
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines continued his war of words against the United States during his trip to Japan Tuesday. Duterte suggested he may end the defense treaties between the United States and the Philippines.
The next G-20 will either feature Hillary Clinton — and more of the same humility — or Donald Trump and a new American swagger.
Vientiane (AFP) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to personally tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for deadly attacks.
