Rodrigo Duterte, the unbelievably controversial president of the Philippines who has waged open war on the country’s drug dealers in a conflict that has left almost 6,000 people dead, has admitted to personally killing people himself while mayor of Davao City.
Speaking to a business forum in the presidential palace, Duterte said that when he was mayor of the southern Philippines city, he would personally hunt down drug dealers on his motorcycle to show local police that they too could do it.
“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the [policemen] that if I can do it, why can’t you?” he said. “I go around in Davao (on) a big bike and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble. I was really looking for an encounter to kill.”
He also admitted to abusing the drug fentanyl in the past – an opioid generally used by cancer patients – which is somewhat ironic considering how drug abusers are generally not exempt from the wrath and violence he directs at dealers.
Duterte’s justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre? downplayed his boss’ remarks about killing, saying that they were likely either “forced” or “exaggerated”.
Rafendi Djamin?, Amnesty International‘s Director for South East Asia and the Pacific, said that the comments merely furthered the current violent climate in the country. “By boasting about the blood on his own hands, President Duterte will further embolden police and vigilantes to blatantly violate laws and carry out more extrajudicial executions without fear of being held to account,” she said.
Donald Trump has praised Duterte’s drug crackdown, and invited him to the White House next year.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Getty Images.
