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[av_heading heading=’Duterte ‘mocked PH rule of law,’ says US group ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – For leading a bloody war on drugs, President Rodrigo Duterte has been recognized as the 2017 “Person of the Year” by an American nonprofit organization.
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) chose Duterte over South African President Jacob Zuma and ex-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his contributions in “advancing organized criminal activity.”
“The global panel of nine corruption-fighting journalists, scholars and activists chose Duterte on the strength of his brutal war on drugs,” OCCRP said. “Duterte has made a mockery of rule of law in his country.”
“While he is not your typical corrupt leader, he has empowered corruption in an innovative way,” the group said. “His death squads have allegedly focused on criminals but, in fact, are less discriminating.”
“Also, Duterte has empowered a bully-run system of survival of the fiercest,” the OCCRP added. “In the end, the Philippines is more corrupt, crueler and less democratic that other countries.”
Duterte has joined the likes of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Romanian Parliament as among those whom OCCRP tagged its Person of the Year.
Since Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016, his administration’s war on drugs have already killed 12,000 people. But the administration belied the numbers to just 3,967 based on its year-end report.
OCCRP is a not-for-profit consortium of regional investigative centers and for-profit independent media in Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, and Africa working to advance public understanding of how organized crime and corruption affect lives./PN
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