Duterte endorses killing of corrupt journos
Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte yesterday said that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets of assassination, as he amped up his anti-crime crusade with bounty offers for the deaths of drug traffickers.
In a press conference called to announce his cabinet in his southern hometown of Davao, Duterte said journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities also deserved to die.
"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch," Duterte said when asked how he would address the problem of media killings in the Philippines after a reporter was shot dead in Manila last week.
The Philippines is one of the most dangerous nations in the world for journalists, with 174 murdered since a chaotic and corruption-plagued democracy replaced the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos three decades ago.
Duterte won this month's elections by a landslide largely due to an explosive law-and-order platform in which he pledged to end crime within six months by killing tens of thousands of criminals.
Duterte also said freedom of expression provisions in the constitution did not necessarily protect a person from violent repercussions for defamation.
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