Archbishop says Philippine president's drug war is turning country into 'killing fields'

Archbishop Socrates Villegas likened the state of massive killings that resulted from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs to that of a "killing fields."

According to the Associated Press, the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines expressed his fierce disavowal on the summary executions of more than 400 suspected drug dealers and pushers in a nationwide campaign against drugs that rattled the country.

The 55-year-old archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan decried that the violent drug war's turning the country into a "killing fields nation."

"Is not humanity going down to the dregs when bloodthirsty humans encourage the killers and ask for more blood?" asked Archbishop Villegas in a statement read in the churches of the Southeast Asian country's northern district on Sunday.

He added, "From a generation of drug addicts, shall we become a generation of street murderers? Can the do-it-yourself justice system assure us of a safer and better future?"

Duterte himself admitted during a speech Thursday that while most of the dead had put up a fight against authorities, he acknowledged that some were "salvaged" or were part of extrajudicial killings.

"They really fight back, I know that," AP quoted the 71-year-old president as saying. "I'm sure there are some who were salvaged, I am also sure of that."

He vowed that the government will investigate these cases.

Authorities already made more than 4,400 drug-related arrests while almost 600,000 people chose to submit themselves to authorities in the light of the massive deaths. Duterte, who took the presidential seat on June 30, centered his presidential campaign on a promise to wipe out the drug problem in only six months.

"My order is shoot to kill you. I don't care about human rights, you better believe me," he told reporters Friday.

He added, "I'll really have you killed. Look at what you're doing to the Philippines and I'll forgive you?"

The U.S. already added its voice to the Roman Catholic leaders, human rights groups, and other local politicians in condemning the extrajudicial killings and urged the Philippine government to observe the rule of law and respect human rights.