Duterte: Don’t use human rights as excuse to destroy PH

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 8 years ago

President Rodrigo Duterte in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday vowed to uphold human rights but said this should not be used as an excuse to destroy the country.

“Human rights must work to uplift human dignity. But human rights cannot be used as a shield or excuse to destroy the country,” Duterte said.

He received a resounding applause after this statement addressing criticisms of human rights violations in the light of an increase in spate of killings since his administration started.

Duterte promised to continue his relentless war against drugs amid summary killings of suspected drug lords and pushers.

“We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financer, have surrendered, put behind bars or below the ground if they so wish,” he said. RAM/rga