MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit out at the European Union on Friday for hypocrisy and called the bloc “sons of ...” after its lawmakers issued a resolution calling for restraint and a rethink in his bloody war on drugs.
Duterte castigated the EU for urging him to focus his campaign on drugs rehabilitation and stood by his security-centred approach to a crackdown that has left thousands of people dead since he took office.
He turned angry during a speech to Chinese businessmen, where he praised China for its no-strings-attached loans and aid and said he did not need the EU, or “idiotic” rehabilitation programmes that failed to stop addicts committing robbery, rape and murder.
“So we’re getting a relief now from our hardships because a lot of (Chinese) money is coming in. The EU, they communicated to us, and they want a health-based solution for the drugs.,” he said.
The EU’s rehabilitation approach, he said, entailed administering drugs like cocaine, marijuana and heroin.
“They want us to build clinics, then instead of arresting, putting them in prisons, just like in other countries, you go there and if you want shabu, they will inject you and give you shabu and you go out,” he said, referring to the methamphetamine used in the Philippines.
“Our people will just go there and consume every chemical until kingdom come, until they are crazy... who will answer for these?”
EU lawmakers last week condemned the “many extrajudicial killings” taking place in the Philippines and said the sources of illegal drugs should be targeted, not the consumer.
The EU is the biggest foreign investor in the Philippines and is its fourth-largest trading partner, offering Manila tariff perks under its Generalised Scheme of Preferences.
Duterte’s signature war on drugs has alarmed the international community, with more than 2,500 killed in operations in which police said they fired in self defence. — Reuters
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