Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has become an international pariah for his orders to police to murder drug suspects and his bragging about his own killings. Thousands of suspected drug dealers have been killed under Duterte. For that reason, many of us were alarmed by President Donald Trump’s praise of Duterte as “a good man” and praising his crackdown on drugs. Duterte however shows no ability to control himself any more than his son (who has been implicated in drugs and corruption) or his henchman . . . or his mouth. Last week, Duterte was asked by the head of the country’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR) about the killing of teenagers by his police and supporters. Duterte’s response was to ask if CHR head Chito Gascon was a pedophile. It is the type of disgusting and dismissive attitude that Duterte has shown all notions of human rights or human decency.
Duterte also sought to bar the use of body cameras for police and suggestion that, if the CHR wants to restore his deep cuts in their budget, the legislators should use the money of cameras. The CHR funding is to be cut by Duterte from 1.72 billion pesos for 2018 to 678 million. Duterte’s allies in the lower house of Congress want to reduce it to 1,000 pesos ($20) — gutting any program that might document the murders and abuses being committed by Duterte’s government.
When specifically asked Gascon’s concern over the teenagers showing up among the thousands of dead, Duterte responded “Why is this guy so pre…suffocated with the issue of young people, especially boys? Are you a pedophile? “Why are you smitten with teenagers? Are you? I‘m having my doubts. Are you gay or a pedophile?”
What is chilling is that Filipinos continue to support this homicidal authoritarian figure because he is “solving” the drug problem in the country.
