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Philippine presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday renewed his vow to kill criminals in one more of his inflammatory speeches that have accompanied his controversial campaign.
The so-called "Philippine Donald Trump” had earlier pledged to kill 100,000 criminals and dump so many in Manila Bay that the "fish will grow fat" from feeding on them.
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"The drug pushers, kidnappers, robbers, find them all and arrest them. If they resist, kill them all," he told about 2,000 people who cheered and shook their fists during a central Manila rally shortly after midnight.
Duterte is among the longest-serving mayors in the Philippines and has been mayor of Davao City, the country's fourth largest city, for 7 terms, totalling more than 22 years.
His rule has become infamous by his shadowy vigilante death squads that have killed more than 1,000 people, however he is the favourite in the race to succeed President Benigno Aquino.
More than 50 million people in the Asian country are qualified to vote on May 9 with Duterte holding a clear lead over four other candidates, including Aquino's preferred successor.
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According to analysts his speech resonates in a chaotic, high-crime society with limited opportunities for a vast underclass working for a tiny elite. However his popularity is surprising, particularly in a mainly Catholic country.
He called Pope Francis a "son of a bitch" and made crass comments about the jailhouse rape of an Australian lay Christian missionary who was killed in a 1989 prison riot in Duterte's own city.
After being criticized by the U.S. and Australian ambassadors over those statements, he dared both to cut diplomatic ties with his country.
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