Duterte to US senators critical of drug war: Stop the hypocrisy

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte told two United States senators who criticized human rights abuses in the country's war on drugs not to interfere in Philippine affairs.

"I would like to appeal, answering the two senators, I would like for the government of the United States [to] stop this hypocrisy game and we're all right," he said

The president tagged the disapproval as "hypocrisy," saying there are rights violated in the killing of African Americans in the US. 

Condemnation sparked anew in the US after an unarmed 40-year-old black man, Terence Crutcher, was shot dead by a police officer in a city in Oklahoma two weeks ago. He was shot while his hands were raised as he was approaching his car.

"I will ask him now: 'Why are you shooting the black people there while they're on the ground?'" Duterte said.

"Sila puwede tapos tayo hindi?" he added. (They can do that but we can't?)

Duterte added that there are proper procedures to be followed when making an arrest.

"So I'm returning the courtesy. Sanay kayo ng ganun e. You criticize people outside of your Congress. Crazy," he said. (So I'm returning the courtesy. You are used to that. You criticize people outside of your Congress. Crazy.)

He also criticized the sending of US troops to Iraq "on the flimsy excuse that there is a weapon of mass destruction." 

"What did they find? Nothing," he said.

American Sen. Patrick Leahy said additional conditions might be needed on the assistance to the Duterte government to ensure that taxes paid by Americans is complicit with human rights.

"I wrote the Leahy Law, which applies worldwide, to ensure that the US is not complicit in human rights violations committed by forces that might receive US assistance, and to encourage foreign governments to hold accountable perpetrators of such abuses," he said. Leahy said Duterte should focus on improving services for Filipinos through accountability in law enforcement and strengthening the judiciary.

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Another US senator said the Philippine government has "chosen the wrong way" in its drug war.

"President Duterte, in advocating and endorsing what amounts to mass murder, has chosen the wrong way," Sen. Benjamin Cardin said.