A French newspaper put President Rodrigo Duterte on its front page with the tag of "Serial Killer President," sparking protests from Filipinos and causing the Interior Secretary to rue the failure of some western leaders and the media to understand the extent of the Philippines' problems.
Asked for his reaction on France's Liberation's bannering of Duterte, DILG Secretary Mike Sueno said, "ang tingin ko sobran naman iyan, ano? [I think that's too much]."
"Hindi nila kasi naintindihan ang problema natin [They don't understand our problems]," Sueno said, referring to the problem of illegal drugs that made headlines during the president's first 100 days in the office, drowning out other serious reforms he had begun.
The French paper's attack is the latest in a stream of critical reporting by international media of the Duterte administration.
In an interview on Sunday morning, Suena took issue with the misuse of the term "extra judicial killings," which, strictly speaking, means "just any killing is being condoned by the government," when, he argued, many of those gunned down had chosen to "fight it out with the police."
"Yung mga iba, sila sila lang ang nagpapatayan--mga drug lord--kasi takot sila na ituturo sila [As for the others, they're wiping out each other--because they're afraid of being pointed to]."
Paris-based Filipinos lamented on how Duterte is being portrayed as a blood-thirsty leader when, they say, he was trying to solve a serious problem no one dared to dig deep into.
The President had recently warned that the Philippines is edging towards "narco-state status," and last week said that the future of drug-free generations cannot be traded with the promise of aid.
Liberation was described by France24 and Agence France-Presse in 2014 as "one of France's most iconic media brands," with a circulation of over 100,000.
That circulation, nonetheless, had plunged in recent years from a much higher figure, as a newspaper staff got embroiled in a battle with shareholders who demanded radical change.
Source: InterAksyon
Image: ABS-CBN
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