MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte remained on the warpath against critics of his campaign against illegal drugs, ridiculing the European Union (EU) this time for criticizing the extrajudicial killings in the country.
“Tapos yung EU ngayon (now) have the gall to condemn it. I repeat it – f*** you,” he said last night, flashing the dirty finger to stress his point.
Duterte has assailed the EU and the United States for being adversarial toward his administration.
He said the US government is hypocritical over the issue of human rights abuses when Americans have launched wars where many people have killed.
“Nung nabasa ko (when I read the) EU condemnation sa akin, sabi ko sa kanila (I told them) fuck you. You are doing it in atonement for your sins. Ginawa nilang strikto dahil may (they are now strict because they have) guilt feelings,” the President said.
“Sinong pinatay ko (who did I kill)? Assuming na totoo (that it’s real). Dito (here) 1,700? You call that genocide? Ilan ang pinatay nila (how many have they killed)?” he said.
At the Sulong Pilipinas summit at SMEX in Davao City, Duterte said the EU, particularly member countries France and Britain which have allied with the US, were involved in attacking Iran and other countries in the Middle East that killed many people.
The audience at the Sulong Pilipinas-Local Governance Dialogues, composed of local officials from the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, the Visayas and Mindanao, applaued Duterte’s harsh words.
The other day, the European Parliament in Brussels directed its delegation in the Philippines and embassies of 28 member-states to monitor rights abuses in line with the state of lawlessness declared by the Duterte administration.
It also called on the government “to put an end to the current wave of extrajudicial executions and killings” of drug suspects.
In a five-page resolution, the European lawmakers raised concern on the extraordinarily high numbers killed during police operations and by vigilante groups.
Prior to attacking the EU, Duterte accused the US government of being “hypocrites” for criticizing his ruthless drug campaign that has resulted in the killing of over 3,000 drug suspects, and yet the Americans were silent over atrocities committed by the US troops on foreign soil.
“San naming nakuha ito (where did we get this)? Sa (from) American archives – we do not have a recorded history of that,” he said, bringing up the Bud Dajo massacre anew during the forum.
Duterte’s temper flared up barely an hour or two after he seemed to have mellowed on the attacks against the US when he recognized America’s assistance to the country in defending the South China Sea. This was at another forum in Compostela Valley also yesterday.
Hypocrites
Duterte described as “hypocrite” the American government for espousing human rights now when they “started the gross violations of human rights in this country,” referring to the Bud Dajo massacre in Sulu.
He said the issue on human rights was initially an “election issue” leveled against him by the yellow movement, apparently referring to the Liberal Party of former president Benigno Aquino III.
The LP also counts as members Duterte’s harshest critic, Sen. Leila de Lima, as well as Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, Ralph Recto and Francis Pangilinan.
“It was an election issue of the yellow movement, and then they kept it alive (by) the naïve foreign correspondents,” he said.
Duterte again vented his ire on the United Nations, describing as “stupid” the rapporteurs who commented on the supposed human rights abuses that came with his drug campaign.
Duterte illustrated how hard it is to file charges against drug suspects unless they are arrested while in possession of drugs.
“I’d like to give a lecture to the American lawyers and to the European, akala ko ba abogado kayo (I thought you are lawyers)?” he said. “In my country, if this is shabu, I have to be in possession of it when I am caught. Otherwise, if this shabu is placed there ten meters away and you arrive in this auditorium, and I said, it’s yours, and you say it’s not mine,” he explained.