Duterte under fire after admitting to extra judicial killings
Spokesman tells a radio interview that the president was ‘not serious’ and was only himself ‘being playful’ and ‘not serious’ as critics insist the ICC, should use his statement to hasten its probe of at least 3 of the crimes against humanity filed before
MANILA: President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte on Friday came under heavy ire from critics for admitting that while he was not corrupt hia “only sin” was extrajudicial killings that arose from his bloody and violent war on illegal drugs.
Duterte made the admission in his speech at the oath-taking of new government career executives at Malacanang Palace on Thursday night.
“What are your sins? Me? I told the military. Did I steal anything, na single centavo? Did I prosecute somebody that I jailed? My only sin is the extra judicial killings (EJKS),” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English.
His closest aides immediately came to Duterte’s defense when foreign and local critics pounced on his statement as they urged the UN International Criminal Court (ICC) to use this to hasten its preliminary examination of the alleged crimes against humanity iled against him due to the war on drugs.
Harry Roque, the presidential spokesman, told a radio interview that Duterte was “not serious” and was only himself “being playful” and “not serious” when he made the controversial statement.
Salvador Panelo, the chief presidential legal counsel, also pointed out that the only issue being raised against Duterte was his alleged involvement in the EJKS which human rights advocates have reached 12,000 as against the Philippine National Police (PNP) oficial count of more than 4000 killed since the war on drugs was launched in June 2016.
But critics insisted the ICC, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, should use the Duterte statement to hasten its preliminary investigation of at least three of the crimes against humanity iled before the tribunal against the president.
Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extra judicial killings, who had a “word war” with the president, described the statement as “extraordinary by a head of state.”
In her Facebook account, said: “Translation: My only sin is imposing unthinkable suffering on 1000s of vulnerable families, emboldening corrupt policing, destroying rule of law.”
Jacqueline Ann de Guia, the spokesman of the Commission on Human Rights assailed Duterte for “toying” with the sanctity of life in making the statement.