Who ‘benefitted’ from drug war deaths? ‘Filipinos, not me,’ says Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte says it was Filipinos — and not him nor his family — who “benefitted” from the deaths in his administration’s drug war.
Duterte insisted on this in his taped weekly briefing on Monday in an expletive-laden rant about human rights advocates’ criticisms of the drug war.
“Let’s assume that what they say about human rights [violations] is true. [EXPLETIVE]. Who benefitted? Me? Was it me who benefitted?” Duterte said in Filipino. “My family? Did they benefit from those [EXPLETIVE] dead? Who benefitted? It’s you, your children. It’s our country that benefitted.”
“Who was put in danger? It’s me, my family, their lives. They [relatives of the dead] will seek revenge. I’m not a millionaire who has a squad behind to guard me. It’s me who has a problem now. Those who benefitted, in truth, are you Filipinos.”
According to a recent study conducted by the University of the Philippines, the Duterte administration’s drug war killed an average of two people a day.
READ: Duterte drug war has killed 2 per day, says UP study
Last June, Fatou Bensouda, who was then chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), formally requested judicial authorization to investigate the crimes against humanity case filed against Duterte in relation to the drug war killings.
