DAVAO CITY, Philippines – “Give me another six months.”

President Duterte on Sunday admitted that he could not stop crime and illegal drugs in three to six months.

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“That self-imposed time of three to six months, well, I did not realize how severe and how serious the problem of drug menace in this Republic until I became President,” he said.

The President made the admission during the presentation to the media of freed Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad in Davao City.

Since Duterte’s assumption to office, over 700,000 had surrendered while over 3,000 drug suspects were killed in police anti-drug operation or by assassins of drug gangs.

“But the problem is, it was a headline, I can’t kill them all,” he said referring to the Inquirer headline on Saturday quoting his earlier statement in a military camp in Isabela.

“Even if I want it to, I cannot kill them all because the last report would be this thick,” referring the third batch of public officials allegedly linked to illegal drug trade.

Duterte then asked for an extension to his “self-imposed” timeline.

“Just give me a little extension of maybe of another six months. Because I never have that idea of hundreds of thousands of people in the drug business. And what makes it worst is, they are now operated by people in government, especially those elected officials,” he said.

Stopping crime and criminality in three to six months was Duterte’s major campaign promise last May.

Duterte said the Philippines is plagued with the problems of drugs, crime and terrorism.

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“We are [rotting] with so many problems—kidnapping in the south, terrorism drugs, which is really pulling us down and I can say we would need time to put things in order,” he said.

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