DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Duterte yesterday called on US officials to stop being hypocrites and meddling in his campaign against illegal drugs.
Duterte lamented the earlier comments of US Senators Patrick Leahy and Benjamin Cardin in raising the issue on the brutal campaign against illegal drugs that left over a thousand suspects dead.
“I would like to appeal… answering the two senators… to the government of the United States, stop this hypocrisy game and we’re all right. Stop being hypocrites. Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world. Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country,” he said.
Duterte told the US senators not to interfere in the affairs of the country.
“Do not interfere in our affairs. I will ask him now: why are you shooting the black people there when they’re on the ground? They can, we cannot. And I say that’s hypocrisy,” Duterte said in his speech following his arrival from a two-day working visit in Vietnam.
Duterte said the US must mind its own business for it does not have any moral ascendancy to criticize, given its own issues with killings.
Leahy had said Duterte should not undercut the judiciary but instead strengthen it.
“If President Duterte is serious about improving conditions in the Philippines, he should be focusing on improving services for Filipinos, not casting them aside; holding law enforcement accountable, not giving them a blanket license to kill suspects; and strengthening the judiciary, not undercutting it,” Leahy said.
Cardin, on the other hand, had said he was disturbed by the reports of thousands killed in Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“I have been a strong supporter of Philippines’ law enforcement institutions, including recently introducing legislation which would increase law enforcement cooperation between our two countries. But these recent reports of thousands of extrajudicial killings as well as detentions and a lack of respect for international human rights commitments are profoundly troubling. They undermine our mutual goals of upholding liberal democratic values in the region and strengthening international law,” Cardin added.
Duterte shot back by telling the US officials of the proper way to arrest a suspect, much more so if he or she is an African-American.
“You arrest him. You grapple with him. Pin him to the ground, place him under handcuff and bring him to the station. Do not shoot him, with the video and the cameras all around. So I’m returning the courtesy. You know the drill. You criticize people outside of your Congress,” he said.
Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with the United States since he won a presidential election in May.
He says he is charting an independent foreign policy outside the influence of the US, and has taken steps to revive ties with China, which had been strained under his predecessor over longstanding territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.
Duterte on Wednesday declared an end to joint military exercises with US forces, saying the upcoming scheduled war games would be the “last one.”
He told the Filipino community in Hanoi that he will maintain the military alliance with the US because of the Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1951.
Duterte yesterday maintained his stand against the joint military exercises with the US, saying next month’s war games would be the last under his term.
“In my term, yes. I don’t know if that treaty would take some form. But in my term, yes. I would not be using my entitlements as commander-in-chief. I would simply say that that is the foreign policy,” Duterte told a press conference here upon arrival from Vietnam.
Duterte pointed out the joint war exercises in October would be the last under his six-year administration and not just for 2016.
He said there is no sense continuing with the joint exercises with the American forces since these do not benefit their Filipino counterparts.
He mentioned the recent purchase of F-50 jets from South Korea which he branded as simply for ceremonial purposes.
“We have the jet planes but they don’t allow us to buy the missiles. So what would be the point? Ceremonial, good. I agree,” he said.