President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday he sympathizes with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who like him, has been criticized by human rights groups.

In a speech before the Indian businessmen before flying back to Davao City, Duterte said there was an instance that when he was talking to her, she was complaining.

"You know, Aung San Suu Kyi was with us. I pity her because she seems to be caught in the middle being a Nobel Prize winner for peace and there is the ruckus where she is heavily criticized," he said.

"She's been complaining. We're talking a bit the interest of our country, our own country and I said, 'Do not mind the human rights, they are just a noisy bunch'," Duterte added.

Duterte did not mention if it was during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-India Commemorative Summit where he had advised Suu Kyi not to mind human rights groups.

Suu Kyi has been criticized for how her government has been handling the plight of the over 100,000 Rohingya people displaced in Rakhine state. At least 200 Rohingyans have been killed in clashes in the Muslim communities.

Duterte has also been hit by the local and international human rights advocates, including the United Nations rapporteurs, for his bloody war on illegal drugs, resulting to the death of thousands of drug suspects.

The Philippine leader said he was popular even outside the country as he even landed in the cover of Time Magazine.

"So I'm sure everybody realizes that I am popular because not for anything else, I appeared in so many articles and cover of Time Magazine and branding me as a killer. So be it," he said.

Duterte said he was just protecting the next generations from the scourge of illegal drugs.

"What's wrong with a leader protecting his country and killing you? You are an an enemy of the state," he added.

He again criticized the UN, saying it has "no purpose at all, actually, for mankind." He said UN has not prevented any war or prevented any massacre. Celerina Monte/DMS