Philippines 'like Wild West' as Duterte arms vigilante groups

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte jokes to photographers as he holds a Galil rifle at Camp Crame in Quezon city. Photo / AP file

The Philippines plans to give guns to community leaders willing to fight crime, sparking fears of more lawless bloodshed in the country's violent crackdown on drugs.

Rodrigo Duterte, the nation's President, said that he was considering arming community leaders, known as barangay captains, after pledging that officials who fought the war against drugs would have his full support.

Last week, he promised to provide the same legal protection to barangay captains as he did to soldiers or police, vowing that they "will never go to jail" if they shot suspected criminals.

Martin Dino, the Interior Department undersecretary responsible for the country's 42,000 barangays, said today that handguns would be provided free, or private purchases subsidised, on the condition that the barangay captains were not involved in illegal drugs.

Critics of Duterte's violent campaign against drugs fear that it will spiral further out of control if more guns flood the streets.

Thousands of suspected drugs users and peddlers have been murdered in cold blood since Duterte rose to power in June 2016 on a tough anti-drugs platform.

Many have been killed by masked assassins, who human rights groups have claimed have links to the police.

They have accused the Philippine authorities allowing rampant extrajudicial killings to take place with apparent impunity.

"Arming barangay captains of the 40,000 barangays simply means creating a private army of political kingpins in cities, provinces and municipalities. It's a Wild West scenario," warned Edgar Erice, an inner city MP.