Duterte dares EU envoys to leave

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday unleashed another profanity- laden tirade against the European Union (EU) and challenged its ambassadors to leave the country within 24 hours.

“Now, the ambassadors of those countries listening now,… you leave my country within 24 hours. All of you,” Duterte said during the relaunching of Press Working Room at the Palace’s New Executive Building in San Miguel, Manila.

“May you end up happy for what you have done. Do not come to this country again. We do not need you,” he added.

Duterte brushed aside worries that the Philippines might be delisted as member-state of the United Nations (UN).

He bragged that the country can survive with the assistance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and his preferred allies, China and Russia.

“You think China and Russia will allow that? You are underestimating us because you think we don’t know about the charter of the United Nations... There’s always China and Russia, why should we worry?” Duterte said.

“Don’t f*** with us. We, Asean members, can export to each other. We can also have tariff-free (trade),” he added.

Alleged threat

Duterte was reacting to a report on the alleged threat to delist the Philippines from the UN.

“Start delisting the Philippines from the UN. Go ahead if you can,” said Duterte

“Go ahead. You are interfer- ing in our affairs because we’re just poor. You would give us money, then you start to orchestrate what things should be done and which should not happen in my country. You b*** s***, we are past the colonization stage,” he added.

On September 30, the Philippine Universal Periodic Review Watch urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to repeal the Philippines’ membership because of the country’s alleged “total mockery of human rights mechanisms, with the government’s blatant distortion of facts on extrajudicial killings and human rights violation.”

In an October 10 report by a national newspaper, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) reportedly said that the Philippines might face sanctions from the UN and European Union (EU), if Duterte fails to stop the spate of killings related to his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

Clarification

Edgardo Angara, Duterte’s special envoy to the EU, clarified in a statement also posted by the same publication on October 11 that the European bloc did not make such a statement.

“The seven-member delegation’s dire warning, as reported on Tuesday, that the Philippines could be expelled from the UNHRC and forfeit its preferential trade with [the EU, is a gross misinterpretation,” Angara said.

Despite Angara’s clarification, Duterte launched tirades peppered with profanities against the EU for its supposed threat against the Philippines.