MALACAÑANG on Thursday was elated at the inclusion of President Rodrigo Duterte on the list of the “World’s Most Powerful People” by Forbes magazine.

Duterte ranked 70th on the annual list, just behind US Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin topped the Forbes list for the fourth consecutive year. He was followed by US President-elect Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis.

Forbes cited Duterte’s tough stance on illegal drugs and crime, as well as his tough talk.

“The former mayor of Davao City was elected president of the Philippines in May 2016 on the strength of a campaign that promised the swift execution of drug users and other criminals, and his war on crime has already resulted in the killing of thousands of people,” Forbes said.

“Duterte’s tendency to say what he thinks, no matter how raw, also keeps him in the headlines,” it added.

Forbes mentioned Duterte’s expletive-laden tirade against US President Barack Obama in which the Philippine leader uttered the Filipino cuss word that translates to “son of a whore.”</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks in Tokyo on Oct. 26, 2016, during an economic forum. On Monday, Dec. 12, Duterte said when he was a mayor, he used to ride his motorcycle while chasing criminal suspects and shoot them on the spot as a way to encourage police to do the same.

On Monday, Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, bragged about killing people. He said that when he was a city mayor he used to hunt suspects on his motorcycle, shooting people on the spot. The goal, he said, was to encourage police officers to do the same.

"In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the [policemen] that if I can do it, why can't you?" he said.

"I go around in Davao (on) a big bike and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble. I was really looking for an encounter to kill."

This was not the first time Duterte appeared to admit to murder - nor would it be the first time his supporters dismissed his remarks. On Wednesday, Vitaliano Aguirre II, his justice secretary, said the president "exaggerated," and while Duterte said he went "looking" to kill, he actually "must have been forced."

All this fits a pattern: Duterte calls for killing alleged criminals, then denies a personal or government role. It's a strategy that helped get him elected and that keeps him popular as his self-proclaimed "war" claims thousands upon thousands more.

To understand why a sitting president might cop to murder, consider that Duterte has done all this before. During his two decade tenure as the mayor of Davao, a city in the southern Philippines, he earned the nickname "the death squad mayor" because of the teams of hitmen that stalked the streets, shooting petty criminals and government critics.

When rights groups investigated him, he claimed he played no role. But when he ran for president, he promised to replicate the Davao model on a national scale. His government would "kill all" the criminals. There would be death and death and death, he said, until the fish "grow fat."

This apocalyptic vision has proved popular. Having weathered colonial plunder, a kleptocratic dictator and then rule by a corrupt and feudalistic elite, many Filipinos see him as a savior, the type of leader who would bleed the system clean.

People are also incredibly fed up with rampant crime in their communities and don't believe the country's overburdened and inefficient courts can deliver the justice they crave.

Since Duterte took power on June 30, at least 5,900 people have been killed. The police say that 2,086 were shot dead in raids and 3,841 were gunned down "vigilante-style" by unknown attackers.

Independent reporting on police operations in the "drug war" has found troubling inconsistencies and strong evidence of excessive use of force. The government claims these "vigilante-style" killings are out of its control, but a recent Washington Post investigation found one such killing was actually staged by high-ranking cops - a dark echo of the "death squad" days.

International condemnation has done little to stop the violence. Local critics fear speaking out.</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Duterte made the comments in a speech to businessmen on Monday night as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, in which police and unknown assailants have killed thousands of people since he became president on June 30.

After speaking about police killing suspects during the current crime war, Duterte said he led similar efforts when he was mayor of Davao, the major city that he ruled for most of the previous 20 years.

“In Davao I used to do it personally, just to show to the guys (police) that if I can do it, why can’t you,” Duterte said in his speech at the presidential palace. “And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”

Duterte also responded to criticism from human rights groups and U.S. President Barack Obama about his brutal anti-crime tactics, vowing to continue his crackdown.

“If they say that I am afraid to stop because of the human rights and guys … including Obama, sorry, I am not about to do that,” he said in English.

Rights groups have accused Duterte of running vigilante death squads in Davao that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals.

Duterte has variously denied and acknowledged his involvement in the death squads.

As president, Duterte has called on ordinary Filipinos as well as security forces to kill drug users and traffickers, but he has also said he and his security forces would not break the law.

In October, Duterte compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million drug addicts. He later apologized for the Hitler reference but said he was “emphatic” about wanting to kill the millions of addicts.

Since his election, police have reported killing 2,086 people in anti-drug operations. More than 3,000 others have been killed in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.

Often masked assailants break into shanty homes and kill people who have been tagged as drug traffickers or users.

Rights groups have warned of a breakdown in the rule of law, with police and hired assassins operating with impunity.

Duterte has insisted that police are killing only in self-defense and that gangsters are murdering the other victims.

But he has also said he will not allow any police to go to prison if they are found guilty of murder in prosecuting his crime war.</s>Controversial leader – who has endorsed extrajudicial executions of drug offenders – says he killed to show police officers ‘if I can do it, why can’t you?’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Rodrigo Duterte has announced he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of his home city of Davao in the Philippines, cruising the streets on a motorcycle and “looking for trouble”.

Philippines secret death squads: officer claims police teams behind wave of killings Read more

The country’s president made the comments in a speech late on Monday night as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill around 5,000 people since he became president on 30 June.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys [police officers] that if I can do it, why can’t you,” he was quoted as saying by AFP, talking of his two decades as mayor of the southern city of 1.5 million people.

“And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also.



“I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”

On Wednesday the justice secretary of the Philippines, Vitaliano Aguirre II, said Duterte often exaggerated his rhetoric to get a message across to criminals. “The president always resorts to hyperbole; he always exaggerates just to put his message across,” Aguirre told reporters.

The former mayor was nicknamed “Duterte Harry”, after the fictional and ruthless police inspector played by Clint Eastwood, for his support for vigilante death squads that killed hundreds of suspected criminals.

Duterte previously has both denied and acknowledged his involvement in the Davao death squads.

Since taking his bloody anti-crime campaign to the nation level, he has been criticised by the United States and United Nations, whose concerns have drawn only angry rebukes.

“If they say that I am afraid to stop because of the human rights and guys … including Obama, sorry, I am not about to do that,” Duterte said in English during his speech at the presidential palace this week.

Duterte has a better relationship with US president-elect Donald Trump, who he said had praised his war on drugs during a phone call this month. This was not confirmed by Trump’s team.

As president Duterte has publicly encouraged civilians to kill drug addicts and said he will not prosecute police for extrajudicial executions. But he has also said he and his security forces will not break the law.

In October Duterte compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts.

He later apologised for the Hitler reference but said he was “emphatic” about wanting to kill the millions of addicts.

Since his election, police have reported killing 2,086 people in anti-drug operations. More than 3,000 others have been killed in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.

Often masked assailants break into homes and kill people who have been tagged as drug traffickers or drug users. Human rights groups have warned of a breakdown in the rule of law with police and hired assassins operating with impunity.

A report by the Guardian in October cited a senior officer in the police force who claimed he led one of 10 special operations teams, each with 16 members, tasked with killing suspected drug users, dealers and criminals.

The officer claimed the hit squads are composed of active police officers and that the murders are conducted in such a way as to make them appear to be perpetrated by “vigilantes” to deliberately obscure police involvement and preclude investigation.

The report was later denied by the chief of police. Duterte has insisted police are killing only in self-defence while gangsters are murdering the other victims.

But he has also said he will not allow any police officers to go to jail if they are found guilty of murder in prosecuting his war on crime.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report</s>Just hours after declaring he was “not a killer,” President Duterte told a group of business leaders on Monday night that he “personally” killed drug suspects when he was mayor of Davao City.

Mr. Duterte said he rode a big bike—presumably his street-eating Harley-Davidson motorcycle—to patrol the streets, spoiling for a fight and seeking to kill.

ADVERTISEMENT

He was defending his scorched-earth policy in the fight against illegal drugs for which he had drawn criticism from the United Nations, United States, European Union and international human rights groups.

Mr. Duterte said one-third of the nearly 6,000 drug suspects slain in his war on drugs were killed in legitimate police operations.

“I know it because—I am not trying to pull my own chair—in Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the [policemen] that if I can do it, why can’t you?” Mr. Duterte said during the Wallace Business Forum in Malacañang.

“I go around in Davao (on) a big bike and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble. I was really looking for an encounter to kill,” he said.

For that approach to fighting crime in the Philippines’ “murder capital,” Time magazine called Mr. Duterte “The Punisher” in an article in 2002.

The magazine echoed the moniker in another article after Mr. Duterte’s election as President in May.

In his speech to businessmen on Monday night, Mr. Duterte said allegations of human rights violations hurled at him by local and international groups would not stop him from pursuing his campaign against the illegal drug trade.

“If I am afraid [and] stop because of the human rights … sorry, I am not about to do that,” he said.

“You [want to] arrest me? Oust me? Go ahead,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

“So fine. Oust me? Good. Assassinate me? Better. I have this migraine every day [anyway],” he said.

Barely five months into his six-year term, Mr. Duterte has gained notoriety for backpedaling on controversial policy statements.

After drawing fire for his outrageous comments, Mr. Duterte would later dismiss them as a “joke.”

Or his aides would explain his comments as “hyperbole,” even though his comments were quite plain statements.

Shortly before addressing the businessmen, Mr. Duterte rebuffed insinuations that he was a “killer” for condoning extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs and encouraging police to kill suspects who would resist arrest.

“I am not a killer. I do not relish or enjoy [seeing] a Filipino sprawled there with all the blood,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech during The Outstanding Filipino Awards for 2016 in Malacañang.

“I do not want you to die, that is not my order,” he stressed. “And even if Congress would give me a carpet authority to kill everybody, I won’t have the time nor the bullets to do it.”

He added: “You know every time I decide on things to buy guns and bullets, there is always in my mind that these things would be used against the Filipinos …. I don’t enjoy it.”

He needs help

As in his previous speeches, the President took out a sheaf of documents and showed it to his audience during his talk at both events in the Palace.

“This [is] the drug industry in this country,” Mr. Duterte said. “I would like to get advice. What should I do? I really want to cry. I feel as if I can’t do it.”

He said he gave copies of the documents to House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III to seek help in dealing with the drug menace, which he described as “a threat to national security.”

But Mr. Duterte has some ideas of his own, including making the rich adopt drug addicts.

He also had a few words for the Catholic Church, one of the strident critics of his bloody war on drugs: “Check out your flock and look for the lost sheep.”

“They say, ‘Why did Duterte have to kill them? Why not just send them to [rehabilitation centers]?’ Son of a bitch. They did not know I have nowhere to go,” he said.

“If you want to help me, make available your houses. To the rich people, those who have mansions with four, five or six rooms, give up one of the rooms. Adopt an addict and see what happens,” he said, eliciting giggles from his audience.

For the nth time, he said the Aquino administration left him funds good only for maintenance and operations, and nothing for building rehabilitation centers for drug addicts.

“So to the bleeding hearts, if you really want to stop the violence, do it. You adopt an addict and share the love [with] your fellowmen,” he said.

“It’s for you to understand the perdition of a drug addict. If you want, I will start with those from Tondo. Choose what you want, boy or girl. It’s just the same [anyway]. If they go crazy, they will stab you dead. It leads to a massacre. Do you think it’s that easy?” he said.

Read Next

LATEST STORIES

MOST READ</s>Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Duterte made the comments in a speech late on Tuesday night to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became president on June 30.

After speaking about police killing suspects during the current crime war, Duterte said he led similar efforts when he was mayor of Davao, the major southern city that he ruled for most of the previous 20 years.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys (police) that if I can do it why can’t you,” Duterte said in his speech at the presidential palace.

 “And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”

He also responded to criticism from human rights groups and US President Barack Obama about his anti-crime tactics, vowing he would not be intimidated by their criticism into stopping.

In a speech to expatriate Filipinos during a state visit to Cambodia on Tuesday, Duterte joked that as mayor of Davao he would go on missions with police and shoot blindly at criminal suspects.

“I (would) sometimes go along with them. If you say I shot someone, maybe I did. I was closing my eyes because I am scared of firing a gun,” said Duterte, a lawyer and former state prosecutor. Rights groups have previously accused Duterte of running vigilante death squads in Davao that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals.</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reviews honor guards during a departure ceremony at the Manila International Airport in Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines, 13 December 2016. Duterte will visit Cambodia to boost bilateral ties, then he will pay a vitist to Singapore, which he stated are preparations for the Philippine chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2017.

MARK R. CRISTINO / EPA</s>MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Duterte made the comments in a speech late on Monday night to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became president on June 30.

After speaking about police killing suspects during the current crime war, Duterte said he led similar efforts when he was mayor of Davao, the major southern city that he ruled for most of the previous 20 years.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys (police) that if I can do it why can’t you,” Duterte said in his speech at the presidential palace.

“And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”

Duterte, 71, also responded to criticism from human rights groups and US President Barack Obama about his anti-crime tactics, vowing he would not be intimidated by their criticism into stopping.

“Sorry, I am not about to do that,” he said.

In a speech to expatriate Filipinos during a state visit to Cambodia on Tuesday, Duterte joked that as mayor of Davao he would go on missions with police and shoot blindly at criminal suspects.

“I (would) sometimes go along with them. If you say I shot someone, maybe I did. I was closing my eyes because I am scared of firing a gun,” said Duterte, a lawyer and former state prosecutor.

Rights groups have previously accused Duterte of running vigilante death squads in Davao that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals, including children accused of petty crimes.

Duterte has variously denied and acknowledged involvement in the death squads.

But he easily won presidential elections in May after promising to roll-out his Davao law-and-order policies across the nation.

He pledged that 100,000 people would die in the crackdown and that so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.

Since taking office in late June, police have reported killing 2,086 people in anti-drug operations. More than 3,000 others have been killed in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.

Often masked assailants break into shanty homes and kill people who have been tagged as drug traffickers or drug users. Rights groups have warned of a breakdown in the rule of law with police and hired assassins operating with complete impunity.

Duterte has insisted that police are only killing in self-defense and gangsters are murdering the other victims.

But he has also said he will not allow any police to go to jail if they are found guilty of murder in prosecuting his crime war.

Surveys show a majority of Filipinos continue to support the charismatic Duterte and his crime policies, accepting his argument that drastic action is required to stop the Philippines from becoming a narco-state.

In October, Duterte compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts.

He later apologized for the Hitler reference but said he was “emphatic” about wanting to kill the millions of addicts.

In September, a self-confessed Davao death squad member told a Senate hearing into the drug war that then-mayor Duterte personally gunned down a justice department agent and ordered the murders of opponents.

The confessed hitman, Edgar Matobato, said one of the victims was fed to a crocodile.

Duterte’s aides denied the claims, sought to discredit Matobato and orchestrated the removal of the president’s chief political opponent as chair of the Senate hearing. AFP</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was Mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Mr. Duterte made the comments in a speech late on Monday night to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became President on June 30.

After speaking about police killing suspects during the current crime war, Mr. Duterte said he led similar efforts when he was Mayor of Davao, the major southern city that he ruled for most of the previous 20 years.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys [police] that if I can do it why can’t you,” Mr. Duterte said in his speech at the presidential palace.

In a speech to expatriate Filipinos during a state visit to Cambodia on Tuesday, he joked that as Mayor of Davao he would go on missions with police and shoot blindly at criminal suspects.

Rights groups have previously accused Mr. Duterte of running vigilante squads in Davao that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals, including children accused of petty crimes. — AFP</s>Duterte says he had personally killed people

MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police.

Duterte made the comments in a speech late on Monday night to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became president on June 30.

After speaking about police killing suspects during the current crime war, Duterte said he led similar efforts when he was mayor of Davao, the major southern city that he ruled for most of the previous 20 years.

"In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys (police) that if I can do it why can't you," Duterte said in his speech at the presidential palace.

"And I'd go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also. I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill."

Duterte, 71, also responded to criticism from human rights groups and U.S. President Barack Obama about his anti-crime tactics, vowing he would not be intimidated by their criticism into stopping.

"Sorry, I am not about to do that," he said.

In a speech to expatriate Filipinos during a state visit to Cambodia on Tuesday, Duterte joked that as mayor of Davao he would go on missions with police and shoot blindly at criminal suspects.

"I (would) sometimes go along with them. If you say I shot someone, maybe I did. I was closing my eyes because I am scared of firing a gun," said Duterte, a lawyer and former state prosecutor.

Rights groups have previously accused Duterte of running vigilante death squads in Davao that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals, including children accused of petty crimes.

Duterte has variously denied and acknowledged involvement in the death squads.

But he easily won presidential elections in May after promising to roll-out his Davao law-and-order policies across the nation.

He pledged that 100,000 people would die in the crackdown and that so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.
President Rodrigo Duterte admits in a speech to a group of businessmen that he "personally" killed suspected criminals when he served as Davao City's mayor.