Local and international human rights groups have been alarmed by what they believe is Duterte’s blatant disregard for human rights, as the death toll in his administration’s war on drugs continues to rise by the day.
But Duterte remains unfazed by the criticisms.
“Huwag kayong makinig dyan sa [Don’t listen to] human rights (groups), because human rights is always the anti-thesis of government,” Duterte told an audience of mostly policewomen.
The United Nations, United States, and European Union have expressed alarm over Duterte’s war on drugs, but the foul-mouthed leader has instead spewed more vitriol and shrugged off calls that his government respect due process and follow the rule of law.
In a speech earlier today that has shocked observers anew, Duterte said he would kill 3 million drug addicts just like how Adolf Hitler killed Jews during the Holocaust.
In his speech this afternoon, Duterte again lambasted Western governments for their supposed hypocrisy, saying they don’t know the ills afflicting the Philippines’ justice system.
Duterte argued, the justice system in the country is faulty at times that it has allowed drug users to go scot-free and leave police officers vulnerable.
Duterte again stressed that he will back policemen involved in the bloody war on drugs, saying he will assume full responsibility for the anti-crime campaign.
Data by ABS-CBN’s Investigative and Research Group showed that 1,109 people were killed by the policemen in anti-drug operations from May 10 to September 30; 616 were killed by unidentified assailants during the same period. At least 139 bodies were discovered to have been dumped in various locations.
Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News
* “Duterte: Human rights is ’anti-thesis’ of government”. ABS-CBN. Posted at Sep 30 2016 08:12 PM:
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/30/16/duterte-human-rights-is-anti-thesis-of-government
Philippines’ Duterte apologises to Jews, but defiant
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday apologised to Jews for comparing himself with Adolf Hitler but said he did nothing wrong and reiterated his desire to kill millions of drug addicts.
Duterte, whose bloody war on crime had already drawn international condemnation, sparked fresh outrage on Friday when he likened his deadly crime war with Hitler’s efforts to exterminate Jews.
Duterte said he was merely reacting to critics who drew comparisons between him and the Nazi leader.
“So I said, ’sure I am Hitler, but the ones I will kill are these (drug addicts)’,” Duterte said in a speech broadcast on national television.
“But it is not really that I said something wrong. But rather they do not really want to tinker with the memory so I apologise profoundly and deeply to the Jewish (people).”It was never my intention but the problem was I was criticised using Hitler, comparing to me. But I was very emphatic. I will kill the three million." Duterte, 71, won elections in May in a landslide after a campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.
Since taking office on June 30, police have killed more than 1,200 people and about 1,800 others have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.
While issuing his qualified apology on Friday, Duterte continued to lash out at Western critics and warned he was willing to kick all American troops out of the Philippines.
“The Americans, I don’t like them.... they are reprimanding me in public. So I say: ’Screw you, f*** you, everything else. You are stupid’,” he said.
Duterte threatened to cancel a defence accord with the United States, the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), that went into force in January.
That agreement, sealed under the administration of Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino, allows US forces access to five Philippine bases to help counterbalance a growing Chinese presence in the South China Sea.
“This EDCA is an official document... but it does not bear the signature of the president of the republic,” Duterte said.
“Better think twice now because I will be asking you to leave the Philippines altogether.” The United States and the Philippines are longtime allies bound by a mutual defence pact.
However Duterte has repeatedly threatened to move away from the United States and forge closer ties China and Russia.
Duterte last month branded US President Barack Obama a “son of a whore”.
Duterte on Sunday also hit out at the Europeans saying: “These stupid lawyers in the EU... well, screw you. I will kick you.”
AFP
* AsiaOne. Sunday, Oct 2, 2016:
http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/philippines-duterte-apologises-jews-defiant
Philippine President Duterte Rejects Hitler Label as Spokesman Clarifies Remarks
MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should not be compared to Adolf Hitler, and his reference to the Holocaust was an “oblique deflection” of claims he is a mass murderer, his spokesman said Saturday, as anger smoldered over his incendiary remarks.
Duterte’s comments on Friday that he wished to kill millions of drug dealers as part of his anti-narcotics war, and those he made about the deaths of millions of Jews, were “two entirely different things”, Ernesto Abella said in one of two statements, which stopped short of an apology.
“The president’s reference to the slaughter was an oblique deflection of the way he has been pictured as a mass murderer, a Hitler, a label he rejects,” Abella said.
“He likewise draws an oblique conclusion, that while the Holocaust was an attempt to exterminate the future generations of Jews, the so-called ’extra-judicial killings’, wrongly attributed to him, will nevertheless result in the salvation of the next generation of Filipinos.”
The maverick 71-year-old president appeared to liken himself on Friday to the Nazi leader, and said he would “be happy to slaughter” three million Filipino drug users and peddlers, adding that he had been portrayed by critics as “a cousin of Hitler.”
“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself.
More than 3,100 people have been killed since “Duterte Harry”, as he has been dubbed, took office on June 30 and kicked off a drugs war that was the bedrock of his election campaign.
Most of those killed were drug users and dealers, with some deaths during shootouts in police operations and others the work of vigilantes, police say.
The near-daily tide of astonishing remarks from Duterte has caused outrage in the West, although he is popular among Filipinos for delivering on promises as president and as mayor of the city of Davao for 22 years before that.
The Hitler comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which pressured Washington to take a tougher line with the unpredictable leader of a country that has long been a dependable U.S. ally.
Abella said Duterte recognized the deep significance of the Holocaust and said that the initial comparison to Hitler “did not originate from the president.”
“The (presidential) palace deplores the Hitler allusion of President Duterte’s anti-drug war as another crude attempt to vilify the president in the eyes of the world,” he said.
REUTERS
* OCT 1 2016, 11:09 AM ET:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/philippine-president-duterte-rejects-hitler-label-spokesman-clarifies-remarks-n657876