President Rodrigo Duterte warned US President Barack Obama, the European Union and the United Nations that they would end up humiliated and outsmarted if they accepted an invitation to
investigate his war on drugs.
Duterte said he was open to an outside probe by Obama, his Secretary of State John Kerry, the EU and the UN Commission on Human Rights into alleged extrajudicial killings, but on the condition that after he was questioned, he had the right to be heard.
"I'll play with you. I'm very sure they cannot be brighter than me. I will ask five questions that will humiliate you," Duterte said. "Watch out for that, it will be a spectacle."
Duterte's remarks came during a televised speech to hundreds of the country's business elite who attended the 42nd Philippine Business Conference and Expo, during which he said it was necessary to cleanse the streets of drug pushers and rescue the next generation of Filipinos from the scourge of narcotics.
Duterte, 71, won the hearts of millions of Filipinos with his outrageous, at times comical speeches and man-of-the-people style in the run-up to a May election. He won by a huge margin after campaigning almost entirely on promises to wipe out drugs and crime.
He even boasted that he won the elections even without much support from the businessmen.
“People with so much money never gave me money because they thought I will not win,” Duterte said.
Nevertheless, he said that he was ready to protect the businessmen against red tape that is a bane to the business community.
“Just do business and I'll protect you. And if there is anybody pag humihingi sa inyo (who is extorting from you), tell me, do not give me your name,” Duterte said.
Again, he stressed the government’s campaign against illegal drugs and criminality.
Nearly 2,300 people have died in the war on drugs since the campaign started on June 30, according to police, of which 1,566 were drug suspects killed in police operations.
Police had previously said there had been more than 3,600 deaths, but have since concluded that many of that number were homicides and murders unrelated to illegal narcotics.
Duterte acknowledged that many people did not approve of his style of governance but he said he doesn’t care about the ratings or even if he is impeached.
“I'm not interested with the rating; I'm comfortable with ‘75’. Nevermind about impeachment, I don't care. I will not die if I don't complete the 6 years. Kung masisipa ako sa pwesto, kapalaran ko yun at kung mapapatay naman ako, bahagi na yun ng plano ng Panginoon (If I get kicked out of my post, then that’s my destiny and if I am killed, then that’s part of God’s plan),” Duterte asserted.
Opinion polls for Duterte's first 90 days in office suggest he remains popular, with a Pulse Asia survey on Wednesday showing he had the trust of 86 percent of 1,200 Filipinos surveyed.
He said that he is used to being criticized, even during his days as mayor of Davao City.
But now that he is already the president of the Philippines, he said he deserves some degree of respect.
“When I was mayor, you can attack me on the side. But now I am the president, at least be courteous,” Duterte said.
Duterte said on Wednesday he had officially invited a United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions to investigate the drug killings.
Thursday speech was the latest among Duterte's frequent and furious rebukes of international critics of his drugs war, after they expressed concern about the unusually high death toll and circumstances of the drugs killings. He said he was ready to answer them, if they call his challenge to investigate him.
"These fools think (they can do anything) because the Philippines is a small nation," he said. "Maybe God gave you the money but we have the brains."
Source: Interaksyon
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