WATCH: Duterte says killings needed to keep city peaceful

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte claimed on Thursday that killings were needed in order to keep a city peaceful and described these deaths as an "investment."

Speaking during the launch of the government's Overseas Filipino Bank, Duterte admitted that around 600 people died during his more than two decades of being the mayor of Davao City.

The president, however, insisted that these killings were legitimate and he did not order the death of anyone who was already kneeling and begging for his life, reasoning that it was not "manly" to do.

He said that there were people who could be kept alive while there were others who should be liquidated.

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Duterte: 'You have to kill to make your city peaceful'