EVADE questions from people whose ultimate goal is to merely "produce lies" against the anti-drug campaign, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered policemen in a speech delivered in Davao City on Thursday, March 1.
Duterte, at the opening rites of the National Special Weapon and Tactics Challenge, reiterated his instruction to the police officers to give a cold shoulder to a "rapporteur" who will throw questions at them, in relation to the relentless fight against narcotics trade.
The President made an oblique reference to United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard, who once again expressed her intent to visit the Philippines and conduct a fact-finding inquiry into his drug war.
"Whoever rapporteur goes (to the country), my order to you is, do not answer, do not bother (to respond to queries). Why would you be answering? Who are they?" Duterte said.
"Do not answer. You're investigating us? Fact-finding? Sorry, do not f*** with me. Do not talk to people who will produce lies out of your statement and who can twist it to the angle that they would like it to," he added.
Callamard, in a Twitter post on Monday, February 26, renewed her call on the Philippine government to approve her plan to investigate Duterte's drug war.
Responding to Callamard's remark, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. on Tuesday, February 26 said the UN rapporteur cannot investigate the anti-narcotics drive as she lacks the qualities of being "credible" and "objective."
Duterte is likewise not welcoming any investigation into the war he waged against illegal drugs, saying that he does not want interference from the international community, as he seeks solutions to pressing issues plaguing the country.
"Who are you to interfere in the way I would run my country? You know very well that we are being swallowed by drugs," he said.
"We tell the truth here. And if we deny, it's really because that's part of our duty, it is not time to talk about it, and as of this time, we'd just like to investigate the whole case until there is a conclusion," the President added. (VoxPop Philippines)
