'They are notorious here': Philippines cracks down on drug dealers

'Our undercover agents killed two known drug peddlers in sting operations.'

Rodrigo Duterte, a Filipino lawyer and politician who recently won the President-elect for the Philippines, has thus far kept his campaign promises to fight illegal drugs and crime.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Durerte struck the right cord in the Philippines when he claimed he would kill 100,000 criminals then told funeral parlors, "I'll supply the dead bodies."

Durerte has been nicknamed "The Punisher" for sanctioning extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and appointing himself judge, jury and executioner. He is also known for making inappropriate jokes about raping women and calling Pope Francis the son of a whore simply because his visit caused a traffic jam.

Often compared to Donald Trump, Durerte's brash moves and speaking-before-thinking habit have somehow endeared him to the people of the Philippines.

Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Durerte has stood for fighting crime and illegal drugs on the streets, which the Dangerous Drugs Board reported to total 4,392 in 2014.

Since he swept the election last month, National Police spokesman Wilben Mayor announced over 40 drug suspects have been killed.

Corruption has long been an issue in the Philippines and the sting operations conducted under Durerte have also resulted in the deaths of suspected drug dealers.

"Our undercover agents killed two known drug peddlers in sting operations," Adriano Enong, the police chief in Rizan province told reporters.

Enong added, "There was a shootout between undercover police officers and drug peddlers when the men sensed they had sold 500 pesos ($10.80) worth of drugs to policemen."

Fighting crime with violence seems to be Duterte's strength. He will take office on June 30 and often reassures authorities they would have his full support if they killed criminals who dared resist with violence.

He also threatened the officers and warned if any of them was discovered to be involved in the drug trade, they would receive the same penalty.

Yahoo! News revealed Davao City, where Duterte served as mayor for 20 years, suffered 1,400 unsolved murders since 1998, most being petty criminals or street-level drug dealers.

Though Duterte denies involvement, it is likely to see a reoccurrence of unsolved murders throughout the Philippines.

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