Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte blasted the United Nations in a speech Sunday for criticizing his anti-drug policies, saying if the worldwide organization doesn’t back off, the Philippines will simply leave. However almost 900 people have been murdered by unknown people during Duterte’s time in power, with police killing another 665 alleged drug suspects, according to the national police chief.
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Estimates for the number of drug-related extrajudicial killings under Duterte vary, but there’s no disputing the fact that the body count is high.
Last Thursday, the United Nations urged Duterte to put an end to the vigilante drug war raging on the streets that has claimed the lives of 850 people since Duterte took office in May of this year.
A United Nations human rights report said his comments are an “incitement to violence and killing, a crime under global law”.
Duterte, elected in May, has sanctioned the killing of traffickers to try to wipe out the drugs trade.
“If you are that rude, we might just as well leave”, he said. Duterte has said he would bestow medals on the killers of drug dealers, and he’s also offered to award bounties to citizens who turn in drug suspects “dead or alive”.
At his press conference in his home city of Davao, Mr Duterte said he did not hear the United Nations expressing the same outrage over the police shootings of blacks in the U.S. as it had over the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.
Criticisms against Mr. Duterte’s crusade against a problem that he says has become a pandemic provoked an angry outburst from Mr. Duterte, who held a news conference after midnight Saturday that dragged on for more than two hours.
He called the United Nations “stupid” and asked for a refund of the Philippines’ contributions to its running costs.
De Lima, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, will lead the probe scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. together with Senator Panfilo Lacson, head of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
She also said the panel will also hear the reports of concerned government agencies on the spate of killings and the position papers of resource persons invited to attend the hearing.
Last week, Duterte identified De Lima as an “immoral” woman for supposedly having a relationship with her driver, who allegedly collected drug money for her.
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Last week, in a speech to police officials, Duterte launched a deeply personal attack on de Lima, shocking many Filipinos. “I don’t give a shit to them”. “I assume full responsibility for what happens”.
