Duterte says 2 generals ''playing'' with drugs; justifies war on drugs
President Rodrigo Duterte said two generals are "playing" with drugs.
Duterte made the statement in a forum in Sochi, Russia as he justified before the international audience his administration's war on drugs.
"This is I would pose to the entire community of the world. Is it wrong for a President to see - to say, rather - that: 'Do not destroy my country especially the children because I will kill you?' And that was my order to the Armed Forces and to the police," he said during the Forum of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
"And right now, even as I fly here and go back, there are about again two generals who are still playing with drugs," Duterte said, without naming them.
Duterte's statement came amid allegations against Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Albayalde of being a protector of the so-called "ninja cops" allegedly involved in the recycling of illegal drugs.
Albayalde denied the accusations.
Local and international human rights groups have been criticizing Duterte's bloody war on drugs.
According to police data, over 6,000 individuals have already been killed in their anti-drug operations since 2016.
Duterte said with only one drug addict in the family, it becomes dysfunctional.
"And I said to the world and to the United Nations and to everybody, I take responsibility for all the consequences of this drug war. I and I alone. If someday somebody has to be hanged, I will be - I will be happy. I will even put the noose on my neck and say 'go ahead'," he said.
"Or if you want to shoot me in a firing squad, fine. Our national hero died well before a firing squad. That could be an honor for me to be the same in a situation. But I do not aspire for honor. I do not aspire to be known. I’m just a citizen, a worker of government and I will do what it need(s), what I have to do to protect the people especially the next generation," he explained.
Duterte, who had been reminded by the moderator several times that his time was over due to his long answer for one question, reiterated he was not a killer.
"Well, I must end by just - just disabusing the minds of people, I am not a killer," he said.
In jest, he added that he was only "killing girls maybe, woman. We are good at that."
"I have yet to kill one human being. When I say I will kill you, well, that's a statement coming from the mouth of a President," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS
