Trump says PH doesn’t have drug problem because ‘they kill’ dealers—reports

FILE: United States President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (PCOO PHOTO)

As he repeatedly talks about his eagerness to execute all drug dealers in his land, United States (US) President Donald Trump even mentioned that the Philippines do not have a drug problem because drug dealers in the country are killed, a U.S. news outfit said.

Citing five sources who have spoken to Trump about the subject in an Axios report, the U.S. President appears to applaud the drug policies of China and the Philippines.

“He often jokes about killing drug dealers… He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them,’” a senior government official told Axios.

According to the report, Trump does not just make fun of it, but he often turns into a passionate speech regarding how drug dealers are the same with serial killers and deserve the death penalty.

It added that Trump would love to have a law executing all drug personalities in the U.S. despite his admission that it would not be easy to get this harsh punishment passed under the American system.

During their private meetings in Manila last November, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that Trump lauded President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration’s anti-drug campaign.

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump told Duterte in a phone call.

“Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that,” he added.

Duterte’s war on drugs drew flak from individuals and groups around the globe as the administration’s campaign took the lives of more than 12,000 drug suspects, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch’s report.

The Philippine government, however, refuted this data, stressing that the number of alleged drug offenders killed in police operations is only at around 4,000.

Apart from admiring the drug policies of the Chinese and the Filipinos, the report also stressed that Trump commends Singapore’s mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking offenses. He said that it is the reason why the country has low rates of drug consumption.

“He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty,’” a source told the news outlet.

The Axios report also stated that Trump thinks that a softer approach to drug reform will never work as it only shows sympathy to the criminals and gives them more merciful sentences.

However, Kellyanne Conway, head of the White House’s anti-drug efforts, asserted that the U.S. Chief Executive is talking about high-volume dealers who are killing thousands of people.

Conway added that the point Trump was trying to make is some states put criminals to death for killing one person but a dealer who carries a small amount of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, into a community can cause mass death in just one weekend.