The Filipino mayor who shamed drug suspects is killed during the flag ceremony

MANILA – A mayor of the Philippines known for marching drug suspects across his city was shot dead during a flag raising ceremony on Monday morning, police said.

Antonio Halili, mayor of the city of Tanauan south of Manila, was shot in the chest by a gunman and died immediately, police said. "Mayor Halili is a loyal ally of the president in the war on drugs," said Harry Roque, a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, in a brief statement. "He was a great mayor … It's such a loss."

Halili was the fourth mayor killed during Mr. Duterte's drug war, which drew fierce condemnation of rights groups for executions extrajudiciaries of thousands of drug suspects.

But the other three mayors were on the list of president officials – including mayors, judges and police – who were accused of being involved in drugs. They have been killed in the last two years in alleged shootings with the police. One of them was killed while he was in prison, after apparently firing a gun at officers who were searching his cell.

Halili gained notoriety by seizing Mr. Duterte's harsh drug rhetoric, ordering his police forces to gather the drug suspects and display them in the Tanauan campaign, where they carried signs saying that they were not safe. they were delinquents

. The practice alarmed local rights groups, who accused the mayor of using a cheap political ploy instead of prosecuting the defendants through the justice system.

Halili also led the mayor's anti-crime group, a civilian self-defense organization that helped lead the fight against drug trafficking.

The investigators were trying to determine who was behind the attack. Said Chief Edward Carranza, Superintendent of Regional Police. He added that the gunman could have been hiding in a secure area near City Hall while carrying out the shooting.

"Crime scene investigators ensure the position the shooter was able to use," he said. With Reuters in 2016, the mayor said that by attacking the drug trade, the Philippine police were taking it to "small fry to scare people" instead of "fighting". attacking big drug traffickers

. Halili's drug effort, he was later singled out by the national police on his list of "high-value targets" as an alleged protector of the drug syndicates. He denied the allegations and, in 2016, sought to whitewash his name with the police.

"Everyone is right to be scared because it is now the police who control," he said. "If you are the mayor, and if your views differ from the police, they will create a story, say that you are in the drug and pursue you and kill you.What can you do?"

Panfilo Lacson , a former police chief of the country, said the government should impose stricter gun control measures to stem the growing tide of killings

. Former and current leaders in broad daylight and in front of the public can only suggest bravery, "he warned.

Recently, however, Mr. Duterte criticized defenders of civil liberty by proposing that all public servants be armed. and enlisted in his war on drugs.