Duterte invites EU critics, wants to ‘slap’ them Communist rebels agree to discuss cease-fire
MANILA: Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte has lashed out at EU critics of his bloody antinarcotics campaign, threatening to “slap” them.
It is the latest of the leader’s near-daily diatribe against the US, EU and the UN while heaping praise on China and Russia.
“Come here and we will talk because I want to slap you,” Duterte said in a speech during celebrations of Women’s Day at the presidential palace.
Duterte scoffed at the bloc for recommending that the Philippines should build “clinics around like in other countries, and give shabu, cocaine and heroin like in Holland.”
The Southeast Asian leader lashed out on the EU last week for hypocrisy after they recommended a rehabilitation-centered solution to the drugs problem.
More than 8,000 people have been killed since Duterte took power on June 30 last year, with police taking responsibility for a third of those deaths, citing self-defense during anti-narcotics operations.
The government rejects local and international human rights groups’ allegations that police are involved in thousands of mysterious deaths.
Duterte castigated the EU for believing reports of non-government groups that tag the leader for the killings.
“Even if it is just epilepsy, they count it against me,” he said, to the laughter of the crowd.
Duterte boasted of his new-found friendship with China, which had been embroiled in a territorial spat with the Philippines before he took office.
As for Russia, Duterte said he plans to make it the trade gateway for Eastern Europe.
Communist rebels, meanwhile, said they are willing to discuss a formal ceasefire proposed by the government in upcoming talks in the Netherlands.
The insurgency began in 1968 in the Philippines, and has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, according to the military.
The meeting, starting Sunday, will be the fourth round of talks between the National Democratic Front and Manila, which have been on and off for 30 years but were restarted by President Duterte after he took office.
The government has billed a permanent cease-fire as its primary goal, though a week of negotiations on the outskirts of Rome in January ended without such a deal.
“The (front) believes it is possible at the soonest time to have a bilateral cease-fire agreement,” Fidel Agcaoili, chief rebel negotiator, said in a statement issued from his exile in the Netherlands.
He said the rebel negotiating team was “willing to be flexible and is open to discussing with its counterpart what kind of bilateral cease-fire agreement is desired by the (government).”