Rody to UN rapporteurs: Bug off

DAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday hit back at two United Nations rapporteurs for taking him to task over his comments on media killings, insisting that their conclusions were “anchored on the wrong premise.”

In a scathing statement, the foul-mouthed Duterte assailed UN officials Cristof Heyns and David Kaye after they slammed him for hinting that some of the slain journalists deserved their fate because they were corrupt.

“It seems to me you are more adept at fumigation, sometimes aka (also known as) foul or idiocy,” Duterte said in a statement sent through text message by his spokesperson, Salvador Panelo.

“Go home and get some sleep. You are overworked and sound beat,” the incoming chief executive said of the UN rapporteurs.

Duterte insisted that he did not justify the murders of corrupt journalists, but merely mentioned that “you don’t have to be a journalist to be the subject of an assassination.”

The outgoing Davao City mayor, who has been urging the private citizens to go after drug traders, said he was committed to protecting the rights of journalists just like any other Filipinos.

“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,” he said. “By chance, do they know the rule on fair play and the right to be heard?”

He also stressed that he will not tolerate violence against members of the Fourth Estate “regardless of the motive of the killers or the reason for their killing.”

Duterte, who will be sworn in as the country’s 16th President on June 30, has been roundly criticized for his rather uncouth behavior and expletive-laced statements during live press briefings.

Last week, the soon-to-be occupant of Malacañang virtually declared war against media when he claimed that many of the murdered journalists were killed because they were involved in corruption.

“Most of those killed were paid to take sides or they got paid but they failed (to deliver). Or they took money from gamblers but still hit them,” Duterte said.

“You really want the truth? That’s the truth. There is corruption on your side. There are many of them. They collect not just from the police. They collect blatantly, and then pounce on the other side,” he added.

Duterte did not budge even after his statements sparked outrage from local and international media groups, prompting the Reporters Without Borders to call for a boycott of his press conferences.

Upping the ante, he scolded Manila-based journalists who flew here to cover him. “Go ahead, boycott me. I’m urging you: Make this trip your last to Davao City. I do not care if no one is covering me,” he told them.

“Just don’t fuck with me,” an incensed Duterte said during his press briefing which was aired live on television and radio networks.

Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, said Duterte’s remark “amounts to incitement to violence and killing, in a nation already ranked as the second-deadliest country for journalists.”

Heyns said his statements were “irresponsible in the extreme and unbecoming of any leader, let alone someone who is to assume the position of the leader of a country that calls itself democratic.”

For his part, Kaye said Duterte’s mention of corruption as the main reason for the killing of journalists “can be understood as a permissive signal to potential killers that the murder of journalists is acceptable in certain circumstances and would not be punished.”