MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte clarified his earlier remark that he dumped bodies of drug lords in Manila Bay and Laguna Lake.
“Tinatakot lang kita para huwag na lang sana (I just scare you to prevent the actual act)...I will scare you, or would you rather that I will not scare you? I just kill you already,” Duterte told CNN Philippines in a Friday evening interview.
The president also said it’s just his manner of speaking and that he would not change it.
“[A]ko, masama ang bunganga ko. Talaga... Pero pag galit ako, I will not you know, I will not change my whole being,” he said.
(My mouth is foul. Definitely…But when I’m mad, I will not you know, I will not change my whole being.)
“It's not just my penchant to use cuss words. Ugali... Ano ko na ito, part of my being.”
(Attitude... That’s just me, it’s part of my being.)
Duterte on Thursday countered criticisms that his administration’s drug war does not target big-time drug lords and personalities.
“Hindi lang ninyo alam. Baka hindi niyo alam ilan tinapon ko diyan sa Manila Bay.”
(If you only knew. Maybe you don’t know how many bodies I’ve dumped there in the Manila Bay.)
“Bakit? Nag-a-announce ba kami na 'yang drug lord si ano tinapon ko sa ano — Laguna de Bay? 'Yung isa hinulog ko doon sa Mountain Province doon sa ravine? Do I have to advertise that?”
(Why? Are we announcing that this certain drug lord I dumped him in — Laguna Lake? The other one I pushed him in the ravines of Mountain Province.)
There are more than 5,000 recorded killings in the government's drug war as of 2019, but human rights advocates claim the death toll has already exceeded 20,000.
A study from the Columbia Journalism School also found that police figures underreport drug war killings.