Duterte’s Death Squads, and Ours

Duterte’s Death Squads, and Ours
October 5, 2016
by Charles Pierson


On September 5, just before his first meeting with President Barack Obama, President Rodrigo (“Rody”) Duterte was asked by a reporter how he would respond if Obama asked about extrajudicial killings.

Duterte exploded:

I don’t give a shit about anybody observing my behavior. I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Son of a whore [putang ina], I will swear at you in that forum.

Obama canceled the meeting, which was to have taken place on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos.

Duterte was right to be agitated. Typically, the United States calls attention to the deficiencies in a country’s human rights record as a prelude to invasion.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/05/dutertes-death-squads-and-ours/