A Philippine mayor named as being involved in the narcotics trade yesterday was shot dead in a police raid, authorities said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has singled out local officials, policemen and judges as part of a drug crackdown that has made him popular with many Filipinos, but has been condemned by human rights groups and other critics.
Among those Duterte named was Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, who was killed along with 11 others in a dawn raid on his home, police said.
“Police were serving a search warrant when the security guards of the mayor fired at them so our policemen retaliated,” regional police spokesman Superintendent Lemuel Gonda said.
Officers recovered grenades, ammunition and illegal drugs in the raid, provincial police chief Jaysen De Guzman said.
Since Duterte took office, police have reported killing nearly 3,200 people in the drug war.
More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes, according to police data.
Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by government-linked vigilante death squads.
In a speech last year, Duterte said Parojinog was among the mayors involved in the illegal drug trade.
Police said they had conducted surveillance on Parojinog based on the president’s remarks.
“He has many security personnel who carry unlicensed firearms,” regional police chief Timoteo Pacleb told DZMM radio.
Two other mayors Duterte mentioned in his so-called “drug list” were killed last year.
In November last year, Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa was killed during a night-time raid in a provincial jail, while in October last year, Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom was killed in a shoot-out in a police checkpoint on suspicion he and his security personnel were transporting illegal drugs, authorities said.
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