‘Pour gasoline’ on drug lords and ‘set them on fire,‘ Duterte tells public

By: Gabriel Pabico Lalu - 4 years ago

MANILA, Philippines — Drug lords and other criminals deserve to be set on fire, President Rodrigo Duterte told the public in his pre-recorded speech that was televised on Monday night.

In another speech months ago, Duterte had prescribed gasoline for sanitizing personal protective equipment used by health workers attending to COVID-19 patients.

On Monday, he again urged people to stick to precautions against the coronavirus.

“So stay home if it’s really possible… It’s for your own good. And the washing of the hands. Now these drug lords — along with kidnappers, drug pushers — bring them [to a place] with not too many people to avoid scandal,” he said, speaking partly in Filipino. “Pour gasoline on them and light it. That’s what those people deserve.”

The President then turned his attention on human rights groups criticizing his campaign against illegal drugs for being bloody. He also noted that he would answer the International Criminal Court (ICC) later on.

“I’ve repeatedly [said to] these human rights [advocates], 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 true,” he said.

“I will answer that ICC later on. It’s all nonsense what [you’re saying],” he added. “In the first place, why are you interfering in the affairs of my country and other countries? And who gave you the authority, by what divine law gave you the authority to prosecute me in a foreign land? And then all of you sitting there are all white.”

Recently, the ICC said that it found a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity were committed in the war against illegal drugs — a central campaign of the Duterte administration.

The drug war has drawn criticisms locally and abroad, with rights groups and activists denouncing the alleged disregard for rights during operations. This became the basis for relatives of drug war casualties to file a case against Duterte before the ICC.

However, Duterte maintained that he had not ordered the killing of anyone and that the killings happened as law enforcers were acting in self-defense.