After last days in office, Duterte says he'll return to teaching criminal law

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte intends to go back to teaching aspiring police officers criminal law procedures after he steps down from office.

Speaking to Filipino athletes who joined the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last Tuesday, Duterte reiterated that illegal drugs can destroy the country and can corrupt the police, prosecutors and judges.

He claimed that the narcotics trade is corrupting authorities until now.

"That's why I said I would teach again. You know where I will teach? I will go back, I was a part-time professor in a police academy in Davao. I was teaching criminal law, criminal evidence, criminal procedure," the president said after the awarding of incentives to SEA Games medalists in Malacañang.

Duterte recalled that when he was a prosecutor, there was a time when he was surprised that the specimen he was about to present to the court was actually "tawas" or salt crystal used as deodorant, not illegal drugs.

"I was given evidence and that is why they (suspects) insisted on revalidating the specimen. I was holding tawas in court. I have seen that it has corrupted the police, it has corrupted the prosecutors. Drugs corrupt the judges and everybody," Duterte said.
 
Duterte added that when he was mayor of Davao City, the value of illegal drugs seized by authorities was in the thousands or millions.

"Now, it's in billions. The latest, biggest haul was seized by the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation)," he said, referring to the operation that led to the confiscation of P11 billion worth of shabu in Infanta, Quezon in March.

Duterte has been accused of committing crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the deaths linked to his controversial drug war. Malacañang has downplayed the complaints, saying the ICC has no jurisdiction over the issue since local courts are still functioning and the treaty that created the tribunal did not take effect in the Philippines.

Duterte denied ordering the extrajudicial killing of drug suspects, saying it was just an intrigue sowed by one of his rivals in Davao City that became part of national consciousness.

"Who would kill someone who is on his knees? I won't be impressed if you shoot a person in that position. Do not believe that intrigue," the president said in Filipino.

Duterte also accused human rights advocates of not paying attention to the families who were affected by illegal drugs.

"They did not look at the other side. How many families were destroyed by this animal? That's why if you get killed, you're just a carcass to me... You will really destroy (the family). If you destroy it, everything else is lost," he added.