President-elect Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
DAVAO CITY — President-elect Rodrigo Duterte took a potshot at the United Nations Rapporteur who condemned Duterte’s recent statement that corrupt journalists deserved to be killed.
The tough-talking mayor, in a statement released on Wednesday through his spokesperson Salvador Panelo, said the UN’s statement was “anchored on the wrong premise.”
“I never said that killing journalists is justified because they are involved in corruption. What I said is that you don’t have to be a journalist to be the subject of an assassination,” he said.
READ: Duterte doesn’t condone journalist killings – spokesman
The UN Rapporteur condemned Duterte’s statements that corrupt members of the media are not exempted from assassination, saying that it was an excuse for violence against journalists.
The UN said that Duterte’s statement was “a permissive signal to potential killers that the murder of journalists is acceptable in certain circumstances and would not be punished.”
READ: Duterte extremely ‘irresponsible,’ UN experts say
But Duterte won’t accept the UN statements.
“Go home and get some sleep. You are overworked and sound beat,” he said.
In a press conference last week, Duterte said corrupt journalists deserved to die. He cited Davao-based media man Jun Pala, who was murdered in 2003. The Duterte critic was shot by gunmen aboard a motorcycle and his murder has never been solved.
READ: Duterte: Media corruption root cause of journalists’ killings
He said there were three types of journalists: the honest crusaders, those in the payroll of private companies, and those who demand money.
“There are many cases where journalists are killed by reason of their advocacies but there are those who are killed because they take sides and accept bribes and renege on their commitments. The noble vocation of journalism does not apply to extortionists and criminals,” Duterte told the UN.
“It seems to me you are more adept at fumigation, sometimes AKA foul or idiocy. I do not condone nor tolerate killing of journalists regardless of the motive of the killers or the reason for their killing. My duty as President is to uphold and enforce the law, and I will pursue and prosecute these killers to the hilt in accordance with law, and I will be–as I have been–protective of the rights of journalists, and for that matter of any citizen, of the Republic,” he said. JE
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