By Fernan Angeles
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte, who earned ire of both local and international human rights advocacy groups over his kill-kill-kill pronouncements, is now taking a 180 degree turn by claiming he didn’t kill anyone – not in his lifetime.
In a meeting with top Cabinet men Monday night, Duterte responded to his critics’ accusations that he and his allies are not following the law they were enforcing themselves.
“Marami nagsasabi, ‘Rule of law, di ka naman sumusunod, marami kang pinapatay.’ Wala ho akong pinatay na tao. And I never, never… magtanong ka ng isang pulis dito sa Pilipinas, magtanong ka kay (Interior) Secretary Año sa DILG, magtanong ka kay (Defense Secretary) Delfin Lorenzana kung may inutusan ba akong tao na sinabi, ‘Patayin mo tong si Mr. Edmundo Santos o patayin mo ‘to si Juan dela Cruz.’“
“I never do that.”
His statement was completely far from his earlier admissions that he has killed suspected criminals, including that of a speech he delivered before a business group months after he assumed the presidency in June 2016 where he boasted of “personally” killing criminals while serving as mayor of Davao City for 23 years.
Local and international human rights advocates have condemned Duterte’s brutal drug war and the high number of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.
The UN Human Rights Office earlier said in a report that the Duterte administration’s stance on addressing national security threats and illegal drugs has led to serious human rights violations, including the killing of over 8,000 people during the government’s drug war, based on official figures.
The murder of nearly 250 human rights defenders, legal professionals, journalists and trade unionists in connection with their work were also linked to the government. Dissenters have been vilified or arbitrarily arrested and detained, according to the report.
Because of the “failure of domestic mechanisms to ensure accountability,” the UN report emphasized there is a need for “independent, impartial, credible investigations into all allegations of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”