January 30, 2018 10:19 PM

MANILA (AFP) – The United States is “cautiously optimistic” that the Philippines’ human rights record is improving as President Rodrigo Duterte presses on with his bloody anti-drug campaign that has claimed thousands of lives, an official said Tuesday (Jan 30) Duterte has made a harsh anti-drug campaign the centrepiece of his administration, urging policemen to kill drug suspects and promising to protect them from prosecution.

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