But in a statement yesterday, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippines “has not extended any invitation to anybody, nor the United Nations, to look into its national affairs”.
Advertisement
“If you are that rude, we might just as well leave”. “They are the ones interfering”, he said.
Mr Duterte said yesterday the United Nations had done nothing for the Philippines, ignoring its poverty reduction programmes and enormous help following typhoons and other natural disasters.
“Kung ganon kayo kabastos, umalis na kami diyan sa inyo [If you are that insulting, we should just leave]”, he said.
At a news conference on Sunday, Duterte took his support for these vigilantes to a new level, threatening to leave the United Nations over criticism that his directives for the public to kill drug dealers amounted to “incitement to violence and killing, a crime under global law”.
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.
Since he took office in June, some 650 people have been killed by police, with as many as 900 more thought to have been slain by vigilantes.
Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa told a Senate committee on Monday that 712 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations since July 1.
Duterte, a former state prosecutor, has been hypersensitive to criticism of his anti-drugs campaign and accused de Lima last week of having an affair with her driver, who allegedly collected protection money from detained drug lords when she was still the justice secretary.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, however, remains unfazed by the growing criticism and repeatedly says that the fight against drugs will be relentless and will be sustained. Duterte, who came to power promising to end drug-related crime, suggested that the Philippines could team up with China and other nations to form an alternative body to the U.N.
Reacting to US criticisms, Duterte cited the string of shootings involving police and black men that have sparked protests in the U.S. “I assume full responsibility for what happened because I was the one who ordered it”, Duterte told the media in Davao City on Sunday.
The president berated the United Nations forthe criticism, adding that the organization had “unfairly singled out” the Philippines.
Advertisement
In a press conference one day prior, President Duterte, nicknamed “Duterte Harry” for his tough, crime-busting reputation, defended the extrajudicial killings of more than 500 drug suspects by police and vigilantes in the eight weeks since he was sworn in.
