President Duterte said Tuesday night that "a good number of judges," including those handling illegal drug-related cases, in Greater Manila "can be bought."
During his speech at the campaign rally of his party, PDP-Laban, in Caloocan City, Duterte disclosed that he even reached out to the Supreme Court to flag a certain judge who has no conviction despite having some 100 drug cases.
"I was a prosecutor many years ago, nakita ko yung galawan ng droga, dahan dahan lang (I saw the movement of drugs, it moved slowly)," he said.
"Maraming instances na pagdating sa korte, either tawas ang ibigay sakin ng mga pulis, mga tarantado o wala ayaw sumipot kung hindi sa piskal palang nadidismiss na... Lalo na dito sa Manila (There were a lot of instances in the court when police would either give me tawas powder or not attend the hearing. So the cases were just dismissed at the fiscal level... Much more here in Manila)," he added.
That was also the reason why from being a public prosecutor, Duterte ran for the mayoralty position up to the presidency so he can reclaim the land for the people.
"Drug was everywhwere and was destroying the moral fibers of our nation," he said.
Meanwhile, Duterte hit anew the International Criminal Court for launching probe into the country's fatal war on drugs.
He asked why does he "have to answer" about the deaths of drug criminals if his intention was only to protect the Filipino people from menace of drug.