PHILIPPINES: DUTERTE URGES LAWMAKERS TO RESTORE DEATH PENALTY

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged lawmakers on 22 July 2019 to bring back the death penalty as part of his internationally-condemned crackdown on narcotics in which police have already killed thousands.
Buoyed by exceptionally high approval ratings and a legislature dominated by his allies, Duterte used his annual State of the Nation address to urge action on a key unrealised plank of his tough-on-crime stance.
"I respectfully request congress to reinstate the death penalty for heinous crimes related to drugs as well as plunder," he said referring also to the nation's deep-rooted corruption problem.
"My countrymen, it is a sad commentary that we cannot distinguish our need from our greed, our principles from prejudices," he told hundreds of assembled lawmakers, diplomats and celebrities in Manila.