Rody justifies drug war before Israeli businessmen
JERUSALEM — President Rodrigo Duterte has made a lengthy, impassioned defense of his bloody war on illegal drugs before business groups here, saying there is nothing wrong with killing those who place one's life in danger.
While claiming to believe in the sanctity of life, Duterte said he could not tolerate the atrocities of criminals and terrorists.
"You know I am a lawyer. I was baptized. I am a Christian and I believe in the value and sanctity of life. But for the life of me, I can never tolerate banditry, the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) thing of just killing people, children and all. I only kill criminals. And if you ask me now, 'Yes, I do,'" the president said during a business forum last Tuesday here.
"They said the criminals are being killed. But I have not for the life of me, ordered the killing of a particular person. If you happened to be there, sorry. If you are into drugs, sorry. That's your fault, you asked for it. So my guarantee really is my word," he added.
Duterte said he has ordered policemen and soldiers to destroy the drug apparatus in the Philippines even if it means killing those who they think pose threats to their lives.
"If you have to kill by all means kill. And there is only one everywhere the same philosophy is that you can only kill if your life is also in danger. So if the enemy wants to kill you, then feel free to kill him first," the president said.
Duterte went on to lambast critics of his drug crackdown in his more-thanan-hour-long-speech, which only made a few references to business matters. Some of the guests of the business forum were seen chatting with each other while Duterte was delivering the lengthy speech.
The president said human rights advocates have sued him before the International Criminal Court but he insisted that the tribunal has no jurisdiction over him. He argued that the Rome Statute, which created the ICC is not binding in the Philippines because it was not published in the Official Gazette, the official publication of the government.