DUTERTE HEADS TASK FORCE VS DRUGS, KIDNAPS

He Made Davao City Safe. Can He Do It For The Rest Of The Country?

President Arroyo announced yesterday the creation of a "special task force"
to be headed by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that will help the police
fight syndicated crimes including kidnapping and drug trafficking.

Newly appointed Philippine National Police chief Director General
Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. will have "total command and responsibility" in
trying to bring down the countrya TMs crime rate in a year, but "he will
not be without expert help," the President said.

As Ebdane took over command of the police force from Leandro Mendoza
yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo announced the abolition of the National Anti-Crime
Commission and the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force, which Ebdane used
to head.

"I am happy to announce that in Jun Ebdane's battle against syndicates and
also the continuing a " and it will be an improved a " battle against drug
lords, Jun Ebdane will be assisted by a special task force to be headed by
Davao City Mayor Rudy Duterte," she added.

Duterte recently made the pages of Time magazine because of his "Dirty
Harry" style of fighting criminality.

A tough-talking, gun-packing mayor who patrols Davao on a Harley Davidson
motorcycle accompanied by motorcycle-riding security men, Duterte has been
widely credited by local residents for taming the once crime-infested city.

In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, gangs, bandits, kidnappers and drug
dealers used to operate with impunity in Davao, making it the crime capital
of the Philippines.

But when Duterte took over city hall and criminals started turning up dead,
it didn't take long before Davao became, as Time correspondent Phil
Zabriskie wrote in his piece, "as oasis of peace in the middle of the
Philippines' lush center of chaos."

Ironically, peace came from a barrel of a gun. A vigilante group calling
itself the Davao Death Squad would carry out the same modus operandi.

Once, two well-known cell phone snatchers were walking the street. Two men
aboard a motorcycle came up, one of them opening fire as the motorcycle
speeds away. Duterte would then order a police investigation which would,
as always, get nowhere.

Although Duterte denies his involvement in the summary executions of
criminals a " sometimes in broad daylight in the streets a " Davao resident
say his tough talk against crime was not an idle threat. One joke in Davao
has it that the Davao Death Squad is actually the Duterte Death Squad.

"If we had 20 more mayors like Duterte, the peace and order would improve,"
Time quoted former cop and former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim - " himself
known for his hardline, sometimes outspoken, stand against criminals - " as
saying.

In fact, at least a handful of cities in the South like Digos in Davao del
Sur province are now dishing out Duterte-style law and order.

Last year, Davao's 1.3 million residents swept Duterte back into office
because of his diligent approach a " to put it nicely a " in fighting
crime, something which the PNP is known for.

How Duterte will help shape up the nation's police force will put his
hardline determination to the test.