MANILA, Philippines — The comfort and safety of the population? Or the lives of criminals?
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday asked human rights advocates to choose between the two as he justified his relentless war against drugs, which has been criticized for supposedly encouraging extrajudicial killings.
In a speech delivered at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, Duterte said his critics are talking "nonsense" while security forces are risking their lives to protect the country from drugs.
"Nothing is free in this life. There's always a price to pay. You choose: Is it the comfort and safety of the population? Or the lives of criminals?" the president said.
"When you face these human rights advocates, their mouths and heads inflate and they talk nonsense. We are supposed to protect the integrity of our republic and the safety of the citizens there," he continued.
"We are 104 million (people). You give me a shit about—how many?—1,600 being killed there? You're not even sure how many of them died in encounters, how many committed suicide and how many were killed by those who were angry with them," he added.
Duterte said security forces are also suffering casualties in the war against narcotics. He claimed that an average of two policemen die everyday in anti-drug operations.
"You work your ass to death, staking your life there, and then this will happen?" the chief executive said.
"These people just want to complain. I take full responsibility. Do your work… If you think there is a crime, shabu and if you have to shoot them, then shoot them. Just tell the truth," he added.
Duterte also shrugged off the Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) claim that an international court may investigate the killings in the country.
"Bugok 'yan (They are stupid). They have lawyers who don't have brains," the president said.
"You know genocide is when you do something similar to what is being done in Africa. You bomb with wanton abandon and kill people with no reason at all, you massacre women, you burn women for refusing to have sex," he added.
Duterte said there is no wanton killing of civilians in the country. He also hinted that drug personalities may be killing each other as operatives have planted intrigues within syndicates.
The president also disputed claims that his campaign against drugs are targeting only the poor.
"Don't give me a drama that you are poor. Rich or poor, I don't give a sh*t," he said.
Duterte said many of the drug personalities are poor because there is a target market for narcotics in their area. He added that the big-time drug lords are operating from abroad and only their lieutenants are in the country.
On Wednesday, human rights group Amnesty International reminded the Philippine government that extrajudicial execution is a crime under international law.