President Rodrigo Duterte, in his fourth State of the Nation Address, said he will end his term fighting as he requested members of Congress to reimpose the death penalty.

In his speech, Duterte said it has been three years since he took his oath in office but it seems that people and the government did not learn their lessons.

“It has been three years since I took my oath of office, and it pains me to say that we have not learned our lesson. The illegal drug problem persists. Corruption continues and emasculates the courage we need to sustain our moral recovery initiatives,” he said.

Recalling the Marawi siege in 2017, Duterte said tons of shabu worth millions of pesos killed 175 and wounded 2,101 of soldiers and policemen during the five-month battle.

“I am aware that we still have a long way to go in our fight against this social menace,” Duterte said.

“Let the reason why I advocate the imposition of the death penalty for crimes related to illegal drugs,” he added.

Duterte said citizens have begun to do their part in the war against drugs, through the barangay formation of anti-drug councils, and also surrendering bricks of cocaine found floating in the sea into the islands.

“However, drugs will not be crushed unless we continue to eliminate corruption that allows this social monster to survive,” he said.

“I respectfully request Congress to reinstate the death penalty for heinous crimes related to drugs, as well as plunder,” he added.

Since the start of his presidency, Duterte has been eyeing the re-imposition of death penalty.

In 2006, Congress passed a law which scrapped the death penalty. Ella Dionisio/DMS