President Rodrigo Duterte has declared January of every year as “National Bible Month” in recognition of the “religious nature of the Filipino people and the elevating influence of religion in human society.”

Duterte’s Proclamation No. 124 dated Jan. 5, a copy of which was released to the media on Monday, also set every last week of January as “National Bible Week.”

Curiously, the President previously told Filipinos not to believe in religions, particularly the Roman Catholic church, whose leaders he has assailed for being “hypocrites.”

He has also cursed Pope Francis during the campaign, calling the beloved leader of the world’s largest religious congregation a “son of a b****” for causing traffic jams in Metro Manila when he visited the country in January 2015.

In signing the order, the President said the 1987 Constitution mandated the national government to promote the ethical and spiritual values of the citizens and to help improve their morality.

“(I)t is fitting and proper for the molding of the spiritual, moral and social fiber of our citizenry, that national attention be focused on the importance of reading and studying the Bible,” read a portion of the proclamation.

“(W)hile maintaining neutrality in its treatment of all religious communities, the government is not precluded from pursuing valid objectives secular in character even if it would have an incidental result affecting a particular religion or sect,” it added.

Mr. Duterte said history has seen the “profound impact” of the religious scripture- the basis of all Christian religions worldwide- on the “life of nations and how it has moved and inspired many people, including statesmen and social reformers to work for the betterment of their fellow human beings even at great cost to themselves.”

Narcomayors may consider themselves dead men walking.

Rehashing his previous threats, President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday issued yet another warning to local chief executives who have refused to heed his call to stop engaging in the narcotics trade.

“As long as I’m President, these big ‘shabu’ dealers will die and the next batch would really be these mayors. I will call them and lock them up,” he said.

“I will talk to them. With the thick document I showed you, I will tell them, ‘Look for your name there mayor, you son of a b****. If your name is there, you have a problem. I will really kill you.'”

Mr. Duterte, who has failed to make good on his promise to eradicate the drug menace in the first six months of his presidency, said he would kill city and municipal mayors protecting syndicates selling and manufacturing shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride).

Read also: Drug users aren’t human: Philippines’ Duterte

Espinosa case

Take the case of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was shot dead by policemen inside his detention cell at the Leyte subprovincial jail last November in what senators said was a police rubout.

“He was killed in a very (questionable way), but I don’t care. The policemen said he resisted arrest. Then I will stick with the story of the police because (they are) under me,” the President said after swearing in the latest members of his administration in Malacañang.

Mr. Duterte said mayors involved in the drug trade should either resign “or make a clean breast of everything, come up with a clean nose.”

“I might go down in the history as the butcher. It’s up to you,” said the President, whose deadly drug war has led to the deaths of more than 6,000 drug suspects.

Mr. Duterte again lambasted human rights advocates, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and outgoing US President Barack Obama for criticising his war on drugs.

He claimed critics of his take-no-prisoners strategy had only “trivialized” the severity of the country’s drug problem that, he said, had affected some 4 million Filipinos.

As if courting another controversy, Mr. Duterte said in jest: “Since I have nothing to show, I just use extrajudicial killing. (That’s because) I have no credentials to boast about.”

Read also: Trump says Duterte ‘doing great’ on war vs drugs

Duterte threatens to kill rights activists if drug problem worsens

Duterte vows to pursue drug war to its end

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Judicial Yuan on Monday slapped a judge with a fine of 10 months’ salary – over NT$1 million (S$44,790) – for being too rough on defendants.

Tseng Yu-ming, a judge at the Taoyuan District Court, was found to have poor anger management and a bad attitude in court and to have damaged the image of the justice system.

The body said Tseng had bullied defendants with unnecessary rhetoric such as “Believe it or not, I’m going to detain (you) anyways.”

In the verdict handed down Monday, Tseng was criticised for, among other things, scolding a defendant surnamed Chuang for “not standing up to make his statement” and for “rejecting Chuang’s right to a cross-examination.”

The verdict said Tseng spoke so loudly that comments he made in his first-floor courtroom could be heard by trial court staff on the second floor.

In another case, Tseng threatened to detain a defendant surnamed Tsai for interrupting his speech even after she immediately apologised, the verdict read.

Tseng then ordered guards to handcuff Tsai after she began breaking down and hit her head on her table twice in protest of the judge’s constant verbal abuse.

Lawyers at the scene said Tseng even started an adversarial speech on nationality, saying that Tsai was Taiwanese whereas he was from “mainland China.”

Lawyers jointly submitted a request to the Judicial Reform Foundation for an investigation into Tseng’s behaviour.

Tseng was later impeached by the Control Yuan after reports by the Judicial Reform Foundation found him to have unsatisfactory performance.Tseng had insulted the defendants’ dignity and freedom as well as breached the administrative regulations of the justice system, the report read.

The number of corrupt officials who have escaped overseas has declined sharply amid an intensified anti-graft drive, a senior official said on Monday.

Since 2014, the number of newly identified corrupt officials who have fled China has fallen annually, said Liu Jianchao, director of the International Cooperation Bureau under the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In 2016, 19 corrupt officials escaped abroad to avoid legal punishment, decreasing by 89 per cent compared with 101 in 2014, according to CCDI.

“Tightened management of the officials’ passports and measures adopted to prevent the suspects from leaving the country all contributed to the sharp decline of the newly added fugitives,” said Huang Feng, a law professor at Beijing Normal University.

China also has enhanced law enforcement co-operation with other countries, improving the success rate in returning fugitives from overseas to face trial, which also serves as a deterrent, he said.

Between early 2014 and the end of 2016, Chinese judicial officers had returned 2,566 corrupt fugitives from more than 70 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada and Singapore, according to the CCDI.

They also confiscated 8.64 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) in illegal assets.

A large number of corrupt Chinese officials have escaped to countries such as the United States, partly because of the lack of a bilateral extradition treaty and differences in their legal systems.

Such officials transferred billions of yuan in illicit assets to foreign accounts through money laundering or underground banks.

Since April 2015, when Interpol issued red notices for the capture of the 100 most-wanted Chinese corrupt officials, 37 have been returned from more than 16 countries and regions.

Half of the rest are still at large in the US and Canada.

Liu said they will improve judicial co-operation, including intelligence sharing and joint investigation, with their counterparts, especially in Western countries.

They also will conduct more case by case negotiations with US judicial authorities on important cases.

He said they also will work on collecting solid evidence in China on the fugitives to offer their counterparts as much information as possible－including the suspects’ location and how assets were moved and where they are－when they request foreign judicial assistance in arresting the fugitives and confiscating their dirty money.

China will conduct a new round of its multiagency Sky-net campaign against the fugitives in March or April, according to CCDI.

“No matter who is involved and wherever they flee, we will make every effort to bring them back to face justice,” Liu added.