Iceland does not share PH’s drug problem: PRRD

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech at the Malacañan Palace on July 11, 2019. ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA— President Rodrigo Duterte has scored Iceland anew, saying the European state does not share the Philippines’ problem on illegal drugs.

“Iceland surprises me. It’s always been a country complaining about extrajudicial killing,” he said in an interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy on Tuesday.

“Wait until the drug menace reaches their shores. And that would be the time that I will answer it,” he added.

In a televised interview, Duterte said the 2017 Marawi siege, led by some Islamic State terrorists and condemned by the international community, was itself sparked by illegal drugs.

“Remember Marawi was not anything but Marawi was — shabu was being cooked there like nobody’s business,” he said.

“The police went to the house of a certain Maute to serve a search warrant, and the target was drugs. And they did not honor the writ of the government, they started to fight it out. So the government forces, police, withdrew and called in the marines. That following day, the nine marines crossing the Mapandi bridge, they were all killed there. So that started the fight,” he said.

Duterte said the conflict only ripened into a rebellion because they were already confronting the government violently.

“But it started with drugs. And how many were killed there? I lost about 600 soldiers and the policemen,” he said. “Every day I lose a policeman in the Philippines. Every day there are those killed, two or three. You just don’t know the real situation. You better study I said, that’s why… And then you force me to defend myself before you?

Who are you?”

The chief executive said he would not face an international tribunal concerning the anti-illegal drugs campaign.

“Look, as I have told you before ladies and gentlemen of the world, I will only face a trial in a Philippine court presided by a Filipino judge, prosecuted by a Filipino,” he said.

“I will not answer a Caucasian asking question or a white man there. You must be stupid. Who are you? I am a Filipino, we have our courts here. Why would you have to bring me somewhere else? I would not like that,” he added.

The Filipino leader underscored that the Philippines has a working judicial system in place.