Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has referred to innocent people and children as collateral damage in his war on drugs because police use automatic weapons when confronting criminals.
Asked in an interview with al-Jazeera about minors caught up in the violence, Duterte said those cases would be investigated but added that police can kill hundreds of civilians without criminal liability.
He gave a hypothetical example of an officer using an M16 rifle when dealing with a gangster who wields a pistol. When they meet, they exchange fire. With the policeman and the M16, its one burst, brrr, and [he] hits 1,000 people there and they die.
It could not be negligence because you have to save your life. It could not be recklessness because you have to defend yourself, he said.
You destroy my country, Ill kill you. And its a legitimate thing. If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interest of the next generation.
In my country there is no law that says I cannot threaten criminals, he added. I do not care what the human rights guys say. I have a duty to preserve the generation. If it involves human rights, I dont give a shit. I have to strike fear.
