DUTERTE BELIEVES IN HIS OWN BRAND OF JUSTICE

DAVAO CITY (AFP) -- In Davao he is often referred as the "Enforcer" or just
"Dirty Harry." But for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the names mean
nothing.

He is proud of his tough, no-nonsense approach to law and order in this
city of just over 1.3 million people on Mindanao island.

In the 1980s, Davao resembled a wild-west town with communist guerrilla
death squads as well as anti-communist militias roaming the city.

The port area was so notorious for crime and killings it was called
Nicaragdao just to reflect the chaos that existed in Nicaragua at the time.
Today it is Duterte's proud boast that "anyone can walk around my city day
or night without fear," and Davao now markets itself as "the safest city in
the Philippines."

Duterte insists that street crime is at an all-time low, and figures
supplied by the Philippine National Police appear to back him up.

The number of rapes in Davao have more than halved from 94 in 2000 to 45
last year, while robberies have plummeted from 94 to 57 over the same period.

The figures for murder, however, tell a different story, painting a
altogether more sinister picture of Davao that is at odds with the gleaming
success story Duterte insists it is. Killings Killings have risen steadily
since 2000, when 71 people were murdered. The figure rose to 73 in 2001,
104 in 2002 before soaring to 120 last year.

Many of these murders are said to be the work of a vigilante group known as
the Davao Death Squad, which singles out drug dealers and drug pushers for
execution. Duterte's critics accuse him of sanctioning the vigilante
group's activities, a claim he vehemently denies.

According to data compiled by the coalition against summary execution, a
group of nine non-government organizations (NGOs) established in 2001, two
people were summarily executed in 1998. It rose to 16 in 1999; 11 in 2000;
29 in 2001; 59 in 2002; and 98 last year.

Paul Relacion, who runs a program for troubled youngsters, said the cases
of summary executions, especially among Davao's youth, were "alarming."

"I am not pointing a finger directly at him (Duterte) but judging from his
public pronouncements during his campaign rallies he could be involved," he
said.

Relacion cited a campaign rally recently where the mayor said, "If I am
going to make it as a mayor again, better get your criminal kids off the
street."

"Reading between the lines the mayor is giving a warning to parents whose
kids are troublesome," he said. Kidnappings Following a spate of
kidnappings toward the end of 2001, Duterte went on local television in
January 2002 and read out the names of suspected kidnappers living in the
city. The kidnappings soon stopped.

But it is drugs and in particular the dealers and pushers the 59-year-old
former prosecutor loathes with a passion. Many of those who were executed
were known to local police and had criminal records.

"I tell my police officers that when their lives are put in jeopardy by
these people, shoot them in the head. There is no point in aiming for the
arm or leg," he said in an interview with AFP.

"You can't talk to them. They have no respect for human life. They deserve
to die," he said.

Duterte said, "If there has been a rise in so-called vigilante drug-related
killings in this city, then so be it. But I have nothing to do with this.
Drugs, what ever kind, kill people. They destroy lives. They destroy
families and communities."

"I know what people say behind my back and I am ready to accept criticism
but I won't accept drugs. I say to drug dealers, 'Come to Davao but come at
your own peril.'"

Mayor for three terms from 1988 to 1998, Duterte was elected to Congress in
July 1998, serving one term before being re-elected as mayor in July 2001.