Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he felt insulted by Justin Trudeau when the Canadian Prime Minister raised the issue of human rights in their meeting in Manila.
Duterte said in a press conference on November 14 that he told Trudeau that the Canadian leader’s action was “a personal and official insult.”
Duterte said that he would not explain his policies to foreign countries since he was only responsible to explain his side to his fellow Filipinos.
Duterte related what happened with his meeting with Trudeau when he faced the media after the closing ceremony of the 31st summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was attended by leaders from other countries like Canada and the U.S.
“You know, I was elected by the people of the Republic of the Philippines. I only answer to the people of the Republic of the Philippines. But for the others, I just said, what happened to the right to be heard? I told him, ‘did it not occur to you to wonder why?’ What they only presented was extrajudicial killing but they could not produce what happened, when and how,” Duterte said.
“I will not explain. It is a personal and official insult. That is why you hear me throwing down epithets, cursing and saying b*** sh***, everything. It angers me when you are a foreigner, you do not know exactly what is happening in this country. You do not investigate,” he added.
Trudeau in a separate media conference had said Duterte was “receptive” when he mentioned Canada’s concern over the pressing issues confronting the Philippines.
Various local and international groups, as well as some world leaders, have criticized the Philippines for supposed rights violations in connection with the drug killings.
The Philippine government has said that 3,967 have been killed in anti-drug operations as of October 2017. But human rights groups said the number is much higher.
Duterte said that he treated Trudeau’s expression of his country’s concern over the human rights situation in the Philippines as a “personal and official insult” because foreigners were unaware of the situation on the ground.
He said that he would explain to a Filipino farmer or a fisherman but not to a foreigner.
He called on his foreign critics to investigate first what was happening in the country and don’t just rely on records and figures from the political opposition and communists whom he accused of producing “falsified” information.
“You don’t even investigate. You only show before the United Nations a record of how many persons died you claim to be extra-judicially. I said you can investigate. Look, guys, what I am really asking, ‘Why don’t you investigate first and find out the truth. Whatever happened why are you not giving us in government the simple rule of the right of the heard,'” the tough-talking Duterte said.
The president conceded that there may be illegal killings in his drug war, but he insisted that he ordered the suspension and apprehension of the cops involved just like in the killings of teenagers in Caloocan City.