Duterte Says Drug War Killings Will Continue: 'If You're Into Drugs, You’ll Die'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reaffirmed his unwillingness to face an international tribunal that will likely contain Caucasians investigating human rights violations related to his administration’s war on narcotics and defiantly declared that the those who deal in drugs will be killed.

To date, about 6,000 suspected drug offenders and “drug personalities” have been killed since Duterte’s election in 2016.

Any investigation would be a result of the Iceland-led resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) to examine the methods used by Philippine law enforcement aimed at eliminating the drug problem in the country.

Duterte has ignored the UNHRC and has stated that “I will only face, be tried or face a trial in a Philippine court, presided by a Filipino judge, prosecuted by a Filipino. And maybe they can reimpose death penalty, (so I can) die in Filipino land.” Duterte made these comments in a recent interview on a television program hosted by TV evangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

In that same interview, the President said killing drug personalities would continue in the final three years of his first term. He added, "I will not answer a Caucasian asking question, or 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. I have my country. It’s working, I know it’s working, justice is working here."

At one point in the interview Duterte warned drug offenders by saying, "Kaya sabi ko nga (English translation: “That's why I said”) if you are into drugs, drop it now or else you’ll die. No choice. Because my order is very clear. Destroy the apparatus of the drug situation in the Philippines.”

The President has expressed some of his wrath at Iceland, threatening to cut diplomatic ties with the Nordic island nation. Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo has stated that the UNHRC resolution “reeks of nauseating politics completely devoid of respect for the sovereignty of our country” and that “The adopted Iceland resolution is grotesquely one-sided, outrageously narrow, and maliciously partisan.”

Panelo went on to say that the resolution was designed to “embarrass” the Philippines before the international community and the global audience. The comments were made during an interview celebrating the 80th anniversary of Manila radio station DZRH.

The 74-year-old President insists that his focus is to stop the drug problem in the Philippines saying, "So whether they like it or not, I will continue what I started to the very end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything... I just work," he said as reported by the SunStar Philippines.