--- description: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the country's police to dissolve its anti-drug units title: Rodrigo Duterte Just Put the Philippines' Drug War on Hold image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75270ab9449697d7/6988b7c5f887dc4e37e98de5/duterte-drug-war.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rodrigo Duterte Just Put the Philippines' Drug War on Hold by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 30, 2017 12:54 PM CUT  Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers a question during a press conference at the Malacanang palace in Manila on January 30, 2017. Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers a question during a press conference at the Malacanang palace in Manila on January 30, 2017.Noel Celis—AFP/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 30, 2017 12:54 PM CUT Philippines President [Rodrigo Duterte](http://time.com/4623410/death-reigns-dutertes-philippines/ "undefined") has ordered the country’s police to dissolve its anti-drug units following the killing of a South Korean businessman by rogue officers. [Duterte](http://time.com/4618726/rodrigo-duterte-helicopter-crime-murder/ "undefined") said Sunday that he was “embarrassed” that anti-drug officers abused their powers, and will change the way the police operates. “Cleanse your ranks. Review their cases. Give me a list of who the scalawags are” he said, in remarks reported by [CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/30/asia/duterte-south-korean-murder-corruption/ "undefined"). Duterte has, however, vowed to go ahead with his [anti-drug](http://time.com/4617309/philippines-duterte-un-rights-chief-idiot/ "undefined") campaign until the last day of six-year term. Government prosecutors say officers abducted Jee Ick-joo on Oct. 18, strangled him to death at Manila’s Philippine National Police headquarters, and asked for a ransom from the slain businessman’s wife, Choi Kyung-jin. Duterte has since apologized to South Korea and promised swift retribution. The killing has added to criticism of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which unleashed a bloody crackdown that saw about 2,000 killed by the police and another 5,000 killed by suspected vigilantes. Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte Drug War on Hold ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4653207/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-drug-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4653207/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-drug-war/"},"headline":"Rodrigo Duterte Just Put the Philippines' Drug War on Hold","datePublished":"2017-01-30T12:54:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:01:11.117Z","description":"\"Cleanse your ranks. Review their cases. Give me a list of who the scalawags are\"","url":"https://time.com/4653207/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-drug-war/","keywords":["Philippines","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75270ab9449697d7/6988b7c5f887dc4e37e98de5/duterte-drug-war.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75270ab9449697d7/6988b7c5f887dc4e37e98de5/duterte-drug-war.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers a question during a press conference at the Malacanang palace in Manila on January 30, 2017.","caption":"Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers a question during a press conference at the Malacanang palace in Manila on January 30, 2017.","creditText":"Noel Celis—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4653207/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-drug-war/","name":"Rodrigo Duterte Just Put the Philippines' Drug War on Hold"}}]}] ```