Duterte to drug op critics: ‘Your complaints would just fall on deaf ears’

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Despite tirades of international and local human rights watch activist groups against the administration, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that the complaints pertaining to his campaign on the war on drugs would just fall on deaf ears.

“Ito, yang droga [On the issue of drugs], for these human rights in or out of the Philippines, hear this: Forget about it. Your complaints would just fall on deaf ears. Hindi kita pakinggan [I will not listen to you]. I have promised, that was my second promise,” Duterte said.

Citing that there are four million people in the country contaminated by drugs, he said that his critics overlooked why he is pursuing his campaign on illegal drugs.

He stressed that the Philippines became a narco-politics country due to the rampant illegal drug trade in the country.

“Ang masakit sa akin [What hurts me], human rights guys who would come here and with their counterparts also off their rockers, sabihin [they will say], “Ito ang listahan sa namatay [Here is the list of those who were killed], extrajudicial kills.”

“But you come here, you just take a look at the list without asking me why and we became a narco-politics, the Philippines, about four or five years ago. That’s the problem,” he added.

Several international and human rights organizations such as the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) have expressed alarm to the President’s bloody war on drugs.

Duterte also reiterated his strong commitment to suppress illegal drugs in the country.

“You’re destroying my country and you expect me to pat you on the back and say, ‘Just be gentle,'” Duterte said.

“You can commit any crimes but do not be involved in illegal drugs transaction. Don’t be connected with drugs. Not drugs because it will really kill the Filipino,” he added.