By Aaron Recuenco
The chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not laughing on the jokes of American stand-up comedian Hasan Minhaj.
PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde instead rebuked Minhaj for allegedly putting the Philippines in a bad light when he attacked President Duterte's drug war in his Netflix show Patriot Act.
Philippine National Police Chief Director Oscar Albayalde
(Kevin Tristan Espiritu / MANILA BULLETIN)
"This is the very reason why our country appears to be portrayed as having a bad peace and order... This is unfair to the administration and to the people working for our country," said Albayalde.
"That is why we challenge these people to come to our country and see for themselves the real peace and order situation in the country," he added.
Minhaj criticized what he describes as a brutal drug war of President Duterte which has so far claimed the lives of more than 5,000 drug suspects in police operations since 2016.
This is on top of the vigilante killings targeting drug suspects which also numbers to thousands.
Albayalde said that while he respects the jokes in some programs, hosts and other people behind the program should also be responsible for their content.
In his Netflix program, Minhaj also tackled the midterm elections wherein he criticized some of the administration bets.
The program that criticized Duterte was aired on the eve of the May 13 midterm elections.
But Albayalde said Minhaj attack appeared to have little or no impact at all as pro-Duterte senatorial candidates swept the midterm elections.