‘Why should we fear to destroy those that make us live in fear?’

President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a firing stance during his visit to Army troopers in Taguig City on Oct. 4. AP

“Why should we be afraid to destroy forces that make us grow in fear?”

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday issued this strong message as he again defended his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

During his speech at the change of command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the President again downplayed criticisms from human rights groups.

“Bakit matakot tayo (Why should we be afraid)? Human rights, you know, you want me, to bring me to fight the International Criminal Court? Gladly. Gladly,” he said.

The President said he was appalled by the “seriousness” of “how the drug industry was blooming into something very, very serious.”

“And it was only when I became President that I was really horrified, appalled by the number of Filipinos already hit by the contamination of ‘shabu,’” he said.

The Chief Executive said the war on drugs “has weathered down a lot but until the last day of my term, until the last pusher is out of the street, until the drug lord, the big ones are killed, the policy will remain: Do not destroy my country.”

Duterte reiterated his instruction to state forces to shoot drug suspects resisting arrest.

“Itong droga na ito (This drug issue)—if it is done that you kill the person because your life is in jeopardy, you are, yourself would lose, not only your funds but your life, my God, shoot him,” he said.

He also assured the military and the police of protection as they performed their duties in the fight against drugs.

“I would take full control of the fight against the drugs because this is not just an ordinary police case,” he said.