Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is once again taking dramatic action to crack down on contraband, this time crushing what he said were C$6.8 million worth of “contraband” luxury cars and just under $500,000 worth of motorbikes on Monday.
Duterte led the “public destruction” of 68 luxury vehicles and eight motorcycles by bulldozer at Port Irene in the Cagayan province, a news release from the president’s office said.
It’s an action that came as Duterte said he was trying to fight smuggling.
“You have to show to the world that you have a viable place of investment and business,” he said in the release.
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“And the only way to show it is that you are productive and that you have the economy to absorb the productivity of the population.”
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Monday marked at least the third time this year that Duterte has overseen such a destruction.
He hosted another luxury car crushing event in February, reported the Washington Post, and one more in March.
The latest car crushing came as Philippine police have vowed a “surgical and chilling” campaign against criminality and illegal drugs, police chief Oscar Albayade said Monday.
The past two years have seen thousands of drug dealers and users killed.
Police have said the killings took place during shootouts, and have denied protesters’ claims that targets were systematically executed.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has begun looking into the killings to see whether crimes against humanity had taken place.
In response, Duterte withdrew the Philippines from its membership in the ICC.
- With files from Reuters
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