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Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte vowed Sunday to reintroduce capital punishment and give security forces "shoot-to-kill" orders as part of a stepped-up war on crime that would include a 2:00 a.m. curfew on drinking in public places.
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In his first press conference since winning the May 9 elections in a landslide, the tough-talking former mayor of southern Davao city stressed his campaign threats to kill were not rhetoric.
"What I will do is urge Congress to restore (the) death penalty by hanging," Duterte, 71, told a press conference in Davao.
He also said he would give security forces "shoot-to-kill" orders against organized criminals or those who violently resisted arrest.
"If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police (will be) to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organized crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organized crime," he said.
He said military sharpshooters would be enlisted in this campaign.
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Duterte also vowed to introduce a 2:00 a.m. curfew on drinking in public places, and to ban children from walking on the streets alone late at night.
If children were picked up on the streets, their parents would be arrested and thrown into jail for "abandonment," Duterte said.
Duterte said he wanted capital punishment—abolished in 2006 under then-President Gloria Arroyo—to be reintroduced for a wide range of crimes, particularly drug offenses, but also rape, murder and robbery.
He added he preferred death by hanging to a firing squad because he does not want to waste bullets, and because he believes snapping the spine with a noose is more humane.
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The centerpiece of Duterte's stunningly successful election campaign strategy was a pledge to end crime within three to six months of being elected.
Duterte vowed during the campaign to kill tens of thousands criminals, outraging his critics but hypnotizing tens of millions of Filipinos fed up with rampant crime and graft.
On one occasion he said 100,000 people would die, and so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish would grow fat from feeding on them.
He complained on Sunday that people no longer feared the law, and he would change that.
"We have a society now where obedience to the law is really a choice, an option only," he said.
"Do not destroy my country because I will kill you. I will kill you. No middle ground. As long as the requirements of the law are there, if you try to evade arrest, refuse arrest... and you put up a good fight or resist violently, I will say: 'Kill them'."
Duterte is due to be sworn into office on June 30 for a six-year term.
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