They said the drive amounted to “incitement to violence and killing, a crime under global law”.
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An estimated 900 people suspected of drug trafficking have been put to death after his pledge to eradicate drug issues in the Philippines. “But I can assure you that he remains committed to the United Nations, of which the Philippines is one of the founding members”.
The U.N. had released a report on Thursday calling for the Philippines government to stop its strict anti-drug campaign which gives police and vigilantes freedom to shoot and kill drug users and traders. “If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you”, Duterte said in a press conference in his home city of Davao that started about 1:00 am.
“Here comes the United Nations easily swayed and coming on a very stupid proposition of, you know, for those who are killed by the drug syndicates we can only investigate, but do not attribute acts of other criminals upon my government”.
Earlier, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the government did not extend any invitation to any third-party observer, adding that “the drug situation is being responsibly addressed by Philippine authorities”.
Speaking on Sunday, he suggested he might invite China and African countries to join The Philippines in forming a new worldwide body separate from the UN.
In an expletives-laden tirade against the United Nations on Sunday, Mr Duterte branded the experts “stupid”, saying they should count the number of innocent lives lost to drugs.
So far, Duterte said 600,000 drug users and pushers have “surrendered” and taken the drug test since his administration launched the campaign after he took over the presidency on June 30 this year. “You don’t come here investigate the deaths of criminals and those suspected na sabi nila pinatay ng mga pulis (suspected to have been killed by the police) when after all we have also lost a sizable amount of our security forces in govt”, the president said. Where were you here the last time?
Criticisms against Duterte’s crusade against a problem that he says has become a pandemic provoked an angry outburst from Duterte, who held a news conference after midnight Saturday that lasted for more than two hours.
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Duterte, formerly the tough-on-crime mayor of the city of Davao, has always been known as a bombastic firebrand, but in the less than two months since he was inaugurated as President of the Southeast Asian nation, many there have expressed concern over what that zeal means at the level of federal politics.
