Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is waging a bloody war on drug suspects, on Sunday publicly named over 160 judges, mayors, legislators, police and military men allegedly involved in narcotics and warned them to surrender.
"Due process has nothing to do with my mouth (statements). There are no proceedings here, no lawyers," he said in a pre-dawn speech just before he began listing them.
More than 800 drug suspects have been killed by police or vigilantes since Duterte's election on May 9, in a campaign which has attracted widespread criticism from rights groups.
The president listed nine judges and over 50 current or former congressmen, mayors and other local officials whom he alleged were involved in illegal drugs.
Duterte ordered their security escorts withdrawn and cancelled their firearms permits, adding that they would face sanctions.
He also named about a hundred retired or active police officers and soldiers whom he said were involved, and relieved them of duty.
"If you show the slightest violence in the resistance, I will tell the police, 'Shoot them'," he told reporters and soldiers in the southern city of Davao.
He said soldiers and police should immediately surrender to their superiors while the judges should report to the Supreme Court.
Duterte, who has gained widespread domestic popularity for his outspokenness, conceded "I might be wrong" about the guilt of those he named.
He said the military and police had compiled the list which he insisted was not coloured by politics or personal links, adding that some of those named were even his friends.
Duterte's spokesman Martin Andanar later said that criminal cases would be filed against those named.
"The president is encouraging all of the persons of interest, the alleged drug lords and drug coddlers to come out in the open, to surrender themselves and submit themselves to thorough investigation," he told reporters.
Some of those named have since come out in media and denied their guilt.
Duterte won election by vowing to wage a war on illegal drugs and other crime that would claim tens of thousands of lives.
He has ordered police not to hesitate to kill and even urged ordinary citizens and communist guerrillas to join in the bloodshed.
The country's largest broadcaster ABS-CBN has listed 852 drug suspects killed since Duterte's election.
In his speech Duterte scoffed at human rights groups opposed to the killings, saying they were free to protest.
"I do not care," he said.
However the head of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines made an emotional appeal to the public to denounce the wave of drug killings.
"I am a human being. That is all it takes for me to stand up and say 'enough'," Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a message read at all Catholic masses in his archdiocese, located 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Manila.
He said the largely Catholic Philippines was becoming a "killing fields nation" for tolerating the violence.
Despite criticism from foreign and local human rights organisations and even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, surveys have shown Duterte enjoys wide public support.
AFP
Sun Aug 07 2016
![Philippine leader names, threatens officials over drugs Philippine leader names, threatens officials over drugs](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2016-05/41464610816_RodrigoDuterte.jpg)
DUTERTE: Due process has nothing to do with my mouth (statements). There are no proceedings here, no lawyers. -Filepix
![Wanita melecur, lapan rumah musnah dalam kebakaran di Tawau Wanita melecur, lapan rumah musnah dalam kebakaran di Tawau](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61721195863_lapanrumahmusnah.jpg)
Wanita melecur, lapan rumah musnah dalam kebakaran di Tawau
Seorang wanita melecur pada muka serta kaki dalam kejadian kebakaran melibatkan lapan rumah di Kampung Hidayat, Jalan Apas pagi tadi.
Wanita melecur, lapan rumah di Tawau musnah
Seorang wanita terpaksa dikejarkan ke hospital selepas cedera melecur dalam kejadian kebakaran membabitkan lapan buah rumah di Kampung Hidayat Batu 4 Jalan Apas, Tawau Sabah pada awal pagi Rabu.
Penganggur tikam gadis 19 kali, simbah cuka getah terlepas hukuman gantung
Mahkamah Persekutuan yang bersidang di Johor Bahru mengetepikan hukuman gantung yang dijatuhkan ke atas seorang penganggur atas kesalahan menikam seorang remaja perempuan sehingga menyebabkan kematian pada 2010
[TERKINI] Telefon pintar Nur Farah ditemui dalam parit
Telefon pintar dipercayai milik bekas penuntut Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah, ditemui di kawasan parit ladang kelapa sawit Kampung Sri Keledang, Hulu Bernam.
![Angka korban insiden tembakan di masjid Oman meningkat kepada enam orang Angka korban insiden tembakan di masjid Oman meningkat kepada enam orang](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61721199094_insidentembakanber.jpg)
Angka korban insiden tembakan di masjid Oman meningkat kepada enam orang
Angka kematian susulan insiden tembakan berhampiran masjid di kawasan Al-Wadi Al-Kabir, Oman meningkat kepada enam termasuk seorang anggota polis.
![Presiden Perancis Macron terima peletakan jawatan PM Attal Presiden Perancis Macron terima peletakan jawatan PM Attal](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-09/81693632996_EmmanuelMacron.png)
Presiden Perancis Macron terima peletakan jawatan PM Attal
Presiden Perancis Emmanuel Macron telah menerima peletakan jawatan Perdana Menteri Gabriel Attal.
![Kedutaan Vietnam bantu keluarga mangsa kes bunuh di hotel Bangkok Kedutaan Vietnam bantu keluarga mangsa kes bunuh di hotel Bangkok](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721191154_GrandHyattErawanh.jpg)
Kedutaan Vietnam bantu keluarga mangsa kes bunuh di hotel Bangkok
Pesuruhjaya Polis Bangkok Thithi Saengsawang dalam satu sidang media lewat Selasa berkata bahawa kesemua mangsa dipercayai dibunuh.
![Penubuhan dana kesihatan negara bagi berdepan ancaman kesihatan masa depan - Dzulkefly Penubuhan dana kesihatan negara bagi berdepan ancaman kesihatan masa depan - Dzulkefly](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71721191129_DzulkeflyAhmad.jpg)
Penubuhan dana kesihatan negara bagi berdepan ancaman kesihatan masa depan - Dzulkefly
Penubuhan dana kesihatan negara yang sedang dipertimbang adalah sebagai kesiapsiagaan dalam menghadapi sebarang ancaman kesihatan masa hadapan.
![Telefon bimbit dipercayai milik Nur Farah Kartini ditemukan dalam parit Telefon bimbit dipercayai milik Nur Farah Kartini ditemukan dalam parit](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71721196548_NurFarahKartiniT.jpg)
Telefon bimbit dipercayai milik Nur Farah Kartini ditemukan dalam parit
Sebuah telefon bimbit dipercaya milik mangsa, Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah, 25, ditemukan dalam parit, berhampiran lokasi mayat mangsa ditemukan.
![Petronas buat bayaran tunai lima peratus jika petroleum didapati dan diperoleh di Terengganu Petronas buat bayaran tunai lima peratus jika petroleum didapati dan diperoleh di Terengganu](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/41719905942_AzalinaOthman.jpg)
Petronas buat bayaran tunai lima peratus jika petroleum didapati dan diperoleh di Terengganu
Petronas hanya membuat pembayaran tunai lima peratus kepada kerajaan negeri Terengganu sekiranya petroleum didapati dan diperoleh di negeri itu.