Launching a new high-profile crackdown on kidnappings,...

Launching a new high-profile crackdown on kidnappings, President Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the Philippine National Police to neutralize 21 kidnap-for-ransom gangs.
"I just want to make it clear ... it's all-out war against 21 KFR syndicates," she declared at the anti-kidnapping summit held at the Manila Hotel.
The anti-KFR workshop group recommended the lifting of the moratorium on death penalty to curb kidnapping.
"We believe that this would discourage the kidnappers from continuing their trade," North Cotabato Gov. Manny Pinol, a participant, said.(Sources: Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 09/07/2002) July 8, 2002: quoting the Bible's passage "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said that summary execution of criminals remained the most effective way to curb kidnapping and illicit drugs.
Duterte, an anti-crime consultant, made the proposal before President Macapagal-Arroyo, Interior Secretary Joey Lina, national police chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and members of the Chinese-Filipino community at a crime summit in the Manila Hotel.
"The intention of the criminals is to instil fear in their victims and kill them. What should we do, but kill them also," he said, eliciting applause.
He added: "My policy is that if you are a kidnapper and a drug pusher, you put yourself and your life on the line."
President Macapagal-Arroyo was visibly pleased as the mayor lengthily spoke about his methods to get rid of criminals, which observers say border on vigilantism. The President recently asked Duterte, to head a Philippine National Police "consultative task force" on kidnapping and illegal drugs.
"There is loose talk, sordid talk about what I do. You have the human rights (groups), the courts, Ombudsman. Let them worry about it. But we can't just sit down just because we are afraid to face charges in court," Duterte said.
He related how a certain "Kapitan Inggo," a man accused of rape and other crimes, came one time to his office to shake hands.
"Now he's gone. I don't know (where he is). Don't ask him," he said, as the audience applauded.
"You must realize, you criminals, that you don't have a monopoly on evil in this country," he said, prompting Macapagal to burst into laughter.
Some Filipino-Chinese businessmen welcomed Duterte's hardline stance against members of the kidnap-for-ransom gangs.
"His advocacy is very practical. I think an iron-fist (policy) will solve the problem of kidnappings. This will lead to economic progress," said John Ng, president of the Federation of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. Most of the kidnap victims come from the Chinese-Filipino community.
Teresita Ang-See, chair of the Citizen's Action Against Crime (CAAC) and Carina Agarao, president of the Crusade Against Violence, however, voiced reservations over Duterte's proposal.
"We can't tolerate a short-cutting of the law. In the end we will be victims of this kind of short-cuts," Ang-See said.
"For one, he will be under the glare of public opinion in Metro Manila, something officials in Mindanao are not subjected to. Plus of course, Commission on Human Rights is very active as well as the media. Then of course there is the monitoring of groups like ours," Agarao said.
Duterte's proposal drew mixed reactions from police officials.
"He should not have said that in public," a police director, who asked not to be named, adding that the best way to solve kidnapping is to improve the investigative skills of policemen to ensure the successful prosecution of cases against kidnap suspects.