MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician are true, and that the police who carry out the hit will be protected from prosecution.
Paolo Duterte, 42, this month appeared before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker that he was a member of a Chinese triad who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.
President Duterte did not refer to the allegations specifically but reiterated his statement from last year’s election campaign that none of his children were involved in drugs, but they would face the harshest punishment if they were.
“I said before my order was: ‘If I have children who are into drugs, kill them so people will not have anything to say’,” Duterte said while addressing government workers at the presidential palace in Manila.
“So I told Pulong [Paolo’s nickname]: ‘My order is to kill you if you are caught. And I will protect the police who kill you, if it is true’,” he said.
Meanwhile, Duterte and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) head Chito Gascon have reconciled, paving the way for congressmen at the House of Representatives to restore CHR’s 623 million pesos (Dh44 million) annual budget after cutting it to 1,000 pesos last week, a source who requested anonymity told Gulf News.
Confirming the report, CHR chief Jose Luis Gascon said the congressmen he met for CHR’s budget were satisfied that his office has been investigating human rights violations — not only of the police and military men — but of insurgent groups comprising communist rebels, Filipino-Muslim rebels, including terror groups and criminals.
“The CHR will need an expanded budget to do all of that. The CHR is promoting the rights of all,” said Gascon.
The restoration of CHR’s budget was a “victory of human rights groups” in the Philippines, said the opposition Liberal Party, which appointed Gascon in 2015.
Earlier, Duterte cursed Gascon and called him a “paedophile”.
The Philippine Constitution has allowed the establishment of CHR as an independent body to check and balance the power of state authorities.
The CHR has been accused of criticising only the police for the killing of more than 3,800 suspected drug pushers and users since July 2016.
The pro-Duterte lawmakers at the lower house of Congress wanted to cut CHR’s budget to silence critics of the government’s bloody campaign against illegal drug trade, observers said.
Duterte, 72, won the presidential elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.
Since he assumed office in the middle of last year, police have reported killing more than 3,800 people in anti-drug operations while thousands of others have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.
Duterte has as president said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts, and described children shot dead in the drug war as “collateral damage”.
But he has also repeatedly insisted he has never instructed police to do anything illegal, and that they must only kill in self-defence.
Duterte’s aides have cautioned journalists not to believe everything the president says, sometimes describing his comments as “merely rhetoric” or “hyperbole”.
Some opposition lawmakers and other Duterte critics allege he and his family have long been involved in corrupt activities dating back to the president’s two-decade reign as mayor of the southern city of Davao.
Duterte denies all allegations of corruption, and insists he is an anti-graft crusader who lives a humble lifestyle.
In this month’s senate hearing, the opposition lawmaker said Paolo Duterte, who is vice mayor of Davao, and the president’s son-in-law were involved in a criminal syndicate called the “Davao Group”.
The pair denied any wrongdoing.
