Rody cites Hitler in drug war; Jewish leaders react

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Duterte said he does not mind being likened to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, especially in his administration’s relentless war against illegal drugs and criminality.

His comments triggered shock and anger among Jewish groups in the United States, which will add to pressure on the US government to take a tougher line with the Philippine leader.

The President cited his being tagged “Hitler of the Philippines” by some critics because of his repeated pronouncements about killing criminals, especially those involved in the illegal drug trade.

More than 1,000 killings since Duterte assumed office in June have been attributed to his administration’s anti-drug campaign.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said. The Nazis killed almost six million Jews, based on historical records.

“At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have – you know – my victims, I would like (them) to be all criminals. To finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition,” the President said upon arrival early yesterday from a two-day working visit in Vietnam.

Duterte recently insulted President Barack Obama and in a series of remarks he has undermined the previously close relationship between Manila and Washington.

Hitler ruled Germany – first as chancellor and later as dictator – from 1933 to 1945.

Duterte was said to be fond of reading biographies and watching documentaries on world leaders – Hitler included.

He decried being blamed for the killings, saying he had been investigated for the same allegation when he was still Davao City mayor, yet no case had been filed against him.

“And all these years, not a single case was filed against me. It’s all talk until now,” he said.

He again lambasted the European Union for admonishing him for the killings and for his threat to kill more drug offenders and other criminals.

“You know, when you want to charge me you have to find out if the penal laws of this land would make a mayor liable if he threatens the criminals or intimidate the wrongdoers,” he said.

“You’re the president and they do this to you? It was of course all right when I was mayor because then, that would be about just a miniscule of the affairs of the humanity in this planet. But when I am the president and you know you are bitter and stupid, you put all the Filipinos, especially outside, you put them to shame,” he pointed out.

The President said the EU and the United States have been hypocrites for calling his attention to human rights issues when they themselves were violators of human rights.

“I’m used to politics. I’ve experienced all vileness. Look, US, EU you can call me anything. But I was never into or I am never into hypocrisy like you. Close your doors; it’s wintertime. There are migrants escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you’re worried about the death of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 here?” the President added.

Enraged

Jewish groups quickly condemned Duterte’s Hitler remarks.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate project, called them “outrageous.”

“Duterte owes the victims (of the Holocaust) an apology for his disgusting rhetoric,” he said.

The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based international Jewish group, said Duterte’s comments were “shocking for their tone-deafness.”

“The comparison of drug users and dealers to Holocaust victims is inappropriate and deeply offensive,” said Todd Gutnick, the group’s director of communications. “It is baffling why any leader would want to model himself after such a monster.”

Two days before the election, outgoing president Benigno Aquino III had warned that Duterte’s rising popularity was akin to that of Hitler in the 1920s and 1930s.

“I hope we learn the lessons of history,” Aquino said in widely reported remarks. “We should remember how Hitler came to power.”

Duterte has been scathing about criticism of his anti-drugs campaign and has insulted the United Nations and the European Union, as well as Obama, at various times in recent weeks.

He also reiterated there will be no annual war games between the Philippines and the US until the end of his six-year term, placing the longstanding alliance under a cloud of doubt. It also may make Washington’s strategy of rebalancing its military focus towards Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China much more difficult to achieve.

Still, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking before the latest remarks from Duterte, said Washington had an “ironclad” alliance with Manila.

A senior US defense official, also speaking earlier, told reporters that the US had a long enduring relationship with the Philippines regardless of who was president.

“It’s going to continue to survive based on what we think are strong US-Philippines common security interests, so we’ll be engaging President Duterte further,” the official said.

Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, said the US-Philippines alliance was not necessarily at risk, but Washington could seek to focus on ties elsewhere in the region.

“We are all in some sense becoming, by necessity, desensitized to Duterte’s language,” he said.

“Diplomatically, the US would say they’ll continue to work with him and the alliance is strong. But it’s whether they’ll continue to strengthen that alliance or not.”

Heavier penalty

Meanwhile, Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay is seeking a heavier penalty for drug dealers and other violators of the comprehensive anti-illegal drugs law.

In Bill 3652, Atienza proposed the penalty of “qualified reclusion perpetua” for drug offenders.

“This bill is being offered as an alternative to the multiple bills that week to reintroduce capital punishment, which has absolutely no place in a modern and civilized nation such as the Philippines, and which the 13th Congress abolished in 2006,” he said.

“This measure provides for a new punishment called qualified reclusion perpetua. It is hoped that it would reinforce the maximum penalties of reclusion perpetua and life imprisonment,” he said.

He added that his proposed penalty calls for imprisonment of 40 years without parole or pardon, while reclusion perpetua is a 30-year jail term with the possibility of being paroled or pardoned. Life imprisonment is an indeterminate prison term.

Atienza proposed that all drug-related offenses, including peddling, possession, manufacture, selling, use and cultivation of marijuana plants, be punishable with qualified reclusion perpetua.

He also recommended that such longer penalty be imposed for other heinous crimes like treason, piracy, bribery, parricide, murder, rape, kidnapping, carjacking, robbery, destructive arson and plunder.

He said if his bill was enacted, drug offenders and other persons who commit heinous crimes could be imprisoned for 40 years, or until they reach 70 years old, when the law allows their release due to old age.

“Once enacted, our bill basically means that hardened convicts are bound to die of natural causes while in prison, considering that 59 years is the expected life expectancy of a long-term Filipino male detainee while that of a female is 66 years,” he said.

Despite his proposal, Atienza said “the certainty of capture and punishment of offenders is still our best deterrence to other would-be criminals.”

“Prolonged prison terms are meaningless if our criminal justice system, largely on account of rampant corruption, is unable to successfully apprehend, prosecute, sentence and lock away criminals, or if some long-term convicts continue to enjoy lavish lives in detention,” he said.