Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will have his son killed if drug
trafficking allegations against the younger politician are true, and
that the police who carry out the hit will be protected from
prosecution.
Paolo Duterte, 42, this month appeared before a senate inquiry to
deny accusations made by an opposition politician he was a member of a
Chinese triad who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal
methamphetamine from China.
President Duterte did not refer
to the allegations specifically but reiterated his statement from last
year’s election campaign that none of his children were involved in
drugs, but they would face the harshest punishment if they were.
"I said before my order was: ’If I have children who are into drugs,
kill them so people will not have anything to say’," Duterte said in a
speech on Wednesday night before government workers at the presidential
palace in Manila.
"So I told Pulong (Paolo’s nickname): ’My order is to kill you if you
are caught. And I will protect the police who kill you, if it is
true’," he said.
Duterte, 72, won the presidential
elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an
unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing
up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.
Since he
assumed office in the middle of last year, police have reported killing
more than 3,800 people in anti-drug operations while thousands of others
have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.
Duterte
has as president said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million
drug addicts, and described children shot dead in the drug war as
"collateral damage".
But he has also repeatedly insisted he has never instructed police to
do anything illegal, and that they must only kill in self-defence.
Duterte’s
aides have cautioned journalists not to believe everything the
president says, sometimes describing his comments as "merely rhetoric"
or "hyperbole".
Some opposition lawmakers and other Duterte critics allege he and his
family have long been involved in corrupt activities dating back to the
president’s two-decade reign as mayor of the southern city of Davao.
Duterte denies all allegations of corruption, and insists he is an anti-graft crusader who lives a humble lifestyle.
In this month’s senate hearing, the opposition lawmaker said Paolo
Duterte, who is vice mayor of Davao, and the president’s son-in-law were
involved in a criminal syndicate called the "Davao Group".
The pair denied any wrongdoing.
