Philippines President Duterte issues warnings to criminals and China

President Rodrigo Duterte warned would-be criminals Monday that "bodies will pile up" if they turn to robberies and other crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and renewed a call for the return of the death penalty for certain crimes.

Duterte touched on a wide range of issues in his annual state of the nation address before Congress and at times turned combative.

He sought congressional passage of a new bill that will again grant him emergency powers to realign huge budgets to be used in dealing with continuing health crisis.

There have been widespread complaints on different aspects of the government response to the contagion, including long delays in the delivery of a massive cash and food aid to millions of poor families and inability by officials to reach a target number of daily virus tests.

The Philippines remains a Southeast Asian hotspot for the virus, with more than 80,000 confirmed cases, including nearly 2,000 deaths.

Amid the hard times, Duterte said people were worried not only about the virus but also about safety and public mobility.

He added that crimes may increase but assured he won't permit crimes to spiral out of control in any city.

He urged lawmakers to work on the swift passage of a law to reimpose the death penalty by lethal injection for illegal drugs, citing how the drug menace has destroyed families and the youth.