President Duterte admitted that he has his own share of faults in his stint as a politician but said he did what he had to do to preserve the Philippines.
Duterte made the statement as he led the national and regional joint anti-communism meetings in Cagayan de Oro Friday, March 5.
In his speech, the President said he had plenty of faults but nothing about corruption. He pointed out that his only sin was the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) linked to his drug war.
"Ang gobyerno dili perpekto. Ako, dili perpekto (The government isn’t perfect. I’m not perfect either). Faults? Me? Plenty," he said.
"Pero dili nang pangawat og kwarta. Naa lang ko'y mga parehas anang kaso, extrajudicial killing (But I don’t steal money. I only have cases about extrajudicial killings)," he added.
According to the President, he is trying his best to preserve the country and he did not need to be told what he should do.
"Ako, I'm trying to preserve my country. Di na ko kinahanglan lecturan pa'g kinsa nga (I’m just trying to preserve my country. I don’t need to be lectured by anyone)..." Duterte said.
"Ang akong nasod, mahal nako kay mao ra ni nasod nako (I love my country because this is the only country that I have)," he added.
This was not the first time President Duterte recognized the existence of EJKs. He, however, has repeatedly denied that they were state-sponsored.
Last week, United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet expressed concern about the "continued high number of killings" by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara revealed last week that an inter-agency panel found that the police did not follow protocols in at least half of the anti-drug operations the panel reviewed.
Data from the PNP showed that at least 6,039 suspected drug personalities had been killed in operations as of January 30, 2021.