OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio-Morales on Friday insisted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated public calls to kill is “not acceptable” as she accused him of “goading people to kill” with his rhetoric against drug pushers and users.
“He’s goading people to kill people. That’s a problem,” Morales said in an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK.
“The directive to kill people under any situation irrespective of the context is not acceptable.”
Morales also dismissed the usual defense by Duterte’s spokesmen and other administration officials that Duterte’s tough talk was just “hyperbole.”
“His communications people say that’s hyperbole. They try to rationalize whatever he says, so the police or whoever he addresses believe him. That’s a different story,” Morales said.
But Malacañang defended Duterte.
“I think she has really taken it out of context,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
“Again and again, we have stated how the President expresses himself and that particular statement might have been taken out of context.”
This is not the first time that Duterte and his men claimed that the President’s critics “misunderstood” his rhetoric.
They claim that Duterte’s threats are merely an “expression of frustration,” and that journalists should use their “creative imagination” when dealing with his pronouncements.
Morales said the Office of the Ombudsman was set to consolidate all cases of summary killings.
“In our case, there have been some complaints which have a bearing with extra-judicial killings, which have a bearing on drugs, and especially the complaints against the detained senator [Leila de Lima]. So we try to consolidate all these complaints and conduct a fact-finding investigation,” she said.