Philippine President Tells Law Enforcement Officials to Ignore Human Rights Monitors

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered security officers in his country to ignore United Nations human rights investigators in a speech this week.  Addressing investigators at a security conference in his hometown of Davao City, the Philippine president said, “You’re investigating us? Fact finding? Sorry, do not [expletive deleted] with me.”

“Who are you to interfere in the way I would run my country? You know very well that we are being swallowed by drugs,” he added.

The combative leader has said a history of saying controversial things.  He once called former President Obama a “son of a bitch,” and has even admitted to killing people when he was mayor of Davao.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys [police officers] that if I can do it, why can’t you,” he reportedly said.  “And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also.

“I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill,” he said.

Extrajudicial killings in the Philippines have drawn the attention of human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, which estimates that 12,000 people have been killed in since Duterte was inaugurated.  Last year, Amnesty International said the alleged killings by police “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

Duterte has waged a war against both drug dealers and addicts since becoming the nation’s president in June of 2016.  He once said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts.

The Philippine government denies the allegations however and puts the number of people that have been killed in the drug war much lower – less than 4,000.

Duterte has a much better relationship with current U.S. President Donald Trump than he did with Obama.  Trump once told Duterte that he was doing an “unbelievable job” handling the drug war in his country, and the two praised each other during a visit Trump made to the Philippines in November of last year for an economic summit which the country hosted.

“We’ve had a great relationship…This [summit] has been very successful,” Trump said at the start of a bilateral meeting the two had at the time.  “I’ve really enjoyed being here.”

Duterte has express a willingness to allow human rights monitors to enter the country and investigate alleged abuses, but at the same time has instructed local law enforcement officials to remain uncooperative.

“Once those human rights investigators or rapporteurs come, my order to you is: Do not answer. Do not bother,” Duterte said during a speech on Thursday.

 

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