{"id":115915,"date":"2019-09-27T13:52:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T20:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=115915"},"modified":"2019-09-27T15:21:57","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T22:21:57","slug":"duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippine President Duterte Says Chinese Casino Loan Sharks and Kidnappers Will Be Caught \u2018Dead or Alive\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a roomful of Chinese investors this week that casino moneylenders who resort to kidnapping<\/a> gamblers who cannot pay up will be \u201ccaught dead or alive\u201d —\u00a0 and preferably dead.<\/p>\n

\"Duterte\"
Rodrigo Duterte delivered some stark warnings to Chinese investors at a company launch Thursday, telling them he is gunning for kidnappers and other Chinese criminals. (Image: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His words — reported by the South China Morning Post<\/em> and delivered at the launch of a Hong Kong-backed property company in Manila — suggest that the strong-arm leader is ready to mete out the kind of justice on loan sharks normally reserved for the country\u2019s drug dealers and addicts.<\/p>\n

In August 2017, human rights groups claimed that more than 13,000 people had become victims of Duterte-backed extrajudicial killings, which have targeted dealers and drug users since the president\u2019s accession to power in June 2016.<\/p>\n

Explosion in Kidnappings <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Philippine casino sector is booming, thanks largely to improved diplomatic relations with China and Duterte\u2019s easing of visa restrictions for Chinese visitors. But the upturn has brought with it junkets, loan sharks, and an explosion in kidnappings.<\/p>\n

Chinese tourists are vulnerable to moneylenders because of the strict restrictions on the movement of cash from mainland China. And if they can\u2019t repay the money borrowed, they can be abducted and tortured to extort relatives to wire money. Occasionally, they’re killed.<\/p>\n

The anti-crime watchdog, Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), said in March there had been 23 kidnapping victims since the beginning of 2018 \u2014 an average of two per month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are foreigners who come here to play their trade, lending money, and if the debtor cannot pay, they kidnap and sometimes they ask for a ransom,\u201d said Duterte. \u201cAnd even with the delivery of the money … they just go ahead and kill the victim.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re good friends with everybody, but I will not hesitate even to tell your ambassador that I killed your idiot citizen because he was f****** in my country … To me, you are just another carcass,\u201d Duterte warned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The president\u2019s choice of platform to instigate his attack on kidnappers — a company launch — is a strange one. But it\u2019s significant that the company, Golden Topper Group, is Chinese, which meant the room was filled with Chinese nationals investing in the Philippines. The presence of the South China Morning Post<\/em> was also likely a motivation for the tirade.<\/p>\n

Chinese citizens are both victims and perpetrators of the kidnappings.<\/p>\n

\u2018I Will Kill You\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Duterte warned investors in the venture that the Golden Copper Group\u2019s properties should \u201cnever serve as a haven for undocumented foreign workers or for the manufacture of and trafficking of illegal drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are a drug lord, or if I catch you importing or manufacturing drugs and you destroy my country in the process, I will kill you,\u201d he added, returning to one of his favorite themes.<\/p>\n

It’s estimated that more than 100,000 Chinese have come to live and work in the Philippines since Duterte opted to license and regulate the online gambling industry, which is prohibited from taking bets from Filipinos, but targets Chinese players, to the displeasure of Beijing.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The influx of Chinese workers has fed demand for business and residential space, increasing rents by as much as 50 percent in some areas, fueling local resentment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou can come, you can ply your trade, you can commit your crimes, but if I catch up with you, it is dead or alive. Preferably dead. Alive, I have to feed you,\u201d he told the investors, who, by now, probably regretted inviting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a rice crisis in this country,\u201d he added. \u201cOne mouth less would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a roomful of Chinese investors this week that casino moneylenders who resort to kidnapping gamblers who cannot pay up will be \u201ccaught dead or alive\u201d —\u00a0 and preferably dead. His words — reported by the South China Morning Post and delivered at the launch of a Hong Kong-backed property company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":115920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDuterte Says Casino Kidnappers Will Be Caught \u2018Dead or Alive\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte tells a roomful of Chinese investors that casino kidnappers are liable to wind up dead on his watch.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Duterte Says Casino Kidnappers Will Be Caught \u2018Dead or Alive\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte tells a roomful of Chinese investors that casino kidnappers are liable to wind up dead on his watch.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-27T20:52:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-27T22:21:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/duterte.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/\",\"name\":\"Duterte Says Casino Kidnappers Will Be Caught \u2018Dead or Alive\u2019\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/duterte.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-27T20:52:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-27T22:21:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte tells a roomful of Chinese investors that casino kidnappers are liable to wind up dead on his watch.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-says-casino-kidnappers-will-be-caught-dead-or-alive\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/duterte.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/duterte.jpg\",\"width\":1170,\"height\":850,\"caption\":\"Rodrigo Duterte delivered some stark warnings to Chinese investors at a company launch Thursday, telling them he is gunning for kidnappers and other Chinese criminals. 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