Philippines defends Duterte killings

UN wants president to be investigated after admission

MANILA // The Philippines yesterday defended president Rodrigo Duterte’s killing of three people in the 1980s, saying it was part of a police operation after the United Nations rights chief urged Manila to investigate him for murder.

Several times last week, Mr Duterte recounted how in 1988, early in the first of his several terms as mayor of the southern city of Davao, he and local police ambushed and killed three suspected kidnappers.

UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Tuesday said that Mr Duterte’s killings, by his own admission, “clearly constitute murder” and Philippine judicial authorities must launch a murder investigation. But Mr Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella yesterday said that Mr Zeid’s comments were nothing more than “his Mr Zeid’s opinion”.

He did not address the issue of Mr Duterte’s possession and discharge of a firearm while not a policeman.

Mr Duterte has said he routinely carried a gun during his early years as mayor of Davao to protect himself in a high-crime environment. He has not said if the weapon used in the ambush was licensed.

He won the presidential election by a landslide in May, largely on the back of his vow to kill 100,000 criminals to stop the country’s slide into a “narco-state”.

According to the UN, nearly 6,100 people have been killed since he took office in late June.

Philippine police put the figure at about 5,300 violent deaths, with Mr Duterte consistently rejecting allegations his comments could be encouraging police to commit murder.

While mayor of Davao, he was investigated by the independent Commission on Human Rights over allegations he ran death squads that killed more than 1,000 petty criminals in the city.

At different times Mr Duterte has denied or confirmed the allegations, but the commission did not file criminal charges after completing its inquiry.

Also yesterday, the president urged communist rebels waging a decades-old rebellion to spend time with their families over the Christmas holidays, pledging to guarantee their safety.

His government is observing a ceasefire with the Maoist insurgents while holding peace talks to bring an end to a 47-year armed campaign that has killed tens of thousands of people according to official estimates.

Mr Duterte said his Christmas offer did not, however, extend to Islamic militants in the south who have either pledged allegiance to ISIL or been abducting tourists, businessmen and seamen for ransom.

“I don’t want to see you and I don’t want to deal with you,” he said.