MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that his government is willing to face any inquiry into the deaths of hundreds of suspected drug dealers and users as human rights groups express alarm over extrajudicial killings.
Duterte said in a speech at the National Police Office, that quote: “We are willing to submit ourselves for an investigation before anybody — adding some of the killings were carried out by drug gangs.
Duterte, during his speech at the 115th service anniversary of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame Wednesday, mentioned how a certain senator had a “lover” who accepted drug-money from the Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.
Though the president did not mention a name, he said that the senator was an “immoral woman” who funded the house of her lover. He was referring to Sen. Leila De Lima.
De Lima: It’s character assassination
De Lima said she was taken aback by the statements, which she did not want to dignify. She said it was character assassination.
Duterte made the remarks after the former justice secretary last week called for a probe into the extra-judicial killings under the administration’s intensified anti-drug campaign.
De Lima said that she wants to know if the operational procedures of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and other law enforcement agencies are legitimate.
In an open letter to the president, she also expressed hope that he would monitor the probe, citing reports that most of the killings were not even related to the campaign.
An estimated 500 drug pushers and users have been killed in the war on illegal drugs under the Duterte administration according to reports.
