Burn drug lords and kidnappers alive in a place with not many people to avoid scandal, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday night.
He reiterated his strong stand against illegal drugs and other crimes during his late night televised public address.
“Now these drug lords — along with kidnappers, drug pushers — bring them to a place with not too many people to avoid scandal. Pour gasoline on them and light it. That’s what those people deserve,” Duterte said.
The President then turned his ire to human rights advocates criticizing his anti-drug campaign, which they claimed to have summarily executed persons by police, military and vigilante groups.
“I said do not destroy my country. And if you destroy the youth of my land, you are destroying my country. So that I will kill you. that’s the truth,” he said.
Duterte also took a swipe at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for interfering in the country’s affairs.
He alleged that the ICC was “crazy” to prosecute him while local courts are functioning.
“We have the courts here functioning. And if the courts say that I should go to jail, I will go to jail,” he said.
Duterte’s war on drugs, which reportedly killed thousands of suspected drug pushers and users, has drawn global condemnation and linked the police and military to the scandal.
However, Duterte’s bloody campaign is overwhelmingly popular in the country, as many Filipinos gave him a high rating of “very good to excellent” in the latest surveys.