Did Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte really kill drug dealers himself in Davao?

RODRIGO Duterte’s admission that he killed drug dealers was typical hyperbole, his supporters claim — but others say it could lead to his impeachment.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he killed drug dealers himself. Picture: AFP

PHILIPPING President Rodrigo Duterte risks impeachment after he admitted “personally” killing criminals when he was the mayor of Davao City.

The firebrand leader boasted to business leaders on Monday that as Davao City mayor he used to prowl the streets on a big motorcycle looking for “an encounter to kill” just to show to local law enforcers he can do it.

“I used to do it personally,” Duterte said. “If I can do it why can’t you?”

More than 2000 people have been killed in police anti-drug operations since Duterte became president in July. Almost all were shot when they resisted arrest.

Another 3000 deaths are under investigation, with critics calling them vigilante killings.

Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte, said the president’s admission could be a ground for impeachment.

“That is betrayal of public trust and that constitutes high crimes because mass murders certainly fall into the category of high crimes. And high crimes is a ground for impeachment under the constitution,” de Lima told CNN on Thursday.

Senator Leila De Lima is a staunch critic of Rodrigo Duterte. Picture: AFP/Noel Celis

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the senate justice committee, also said Duterte opened himself to possible impeachment proceedings following his controversial comments.

“When he says that, he’s opening himself up, so what’s the legal way, then go ahead and impeach him,” he told reporters, adding he was not surprised by the statement.

Duterte’s allies in Congress dared the president’s opponents and critics to file an impeachment motion, saying removing the leader through a political process is a numbers game.

There are less than 50 opposition lawmakers in the 293-member lower house of Congress. A two-thirds vote is needed to impeach a president.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Duterte often exaggerates killings of criminals he supposedly carried out to send a chilling warning to lawbreakers.

He told reporters that Duterte may have been resorting to hyperbole in Monday’s speech.

“The president always resorts to hyperbole, he always exaggerates just to put his message across,” Aguirre told reporters.

Inmates relax at the basketball court inside the jail in Quezon City, suburban Manila. Picture: AFP

Duterte, however, has repeatedly said that drug suspects were only killed under his anti-drug crackdown as mayor, and now as president, when they fought back and threatened law enforcers.

Still, Amnesty International said such remarks by Duterte incite policemen and civilians to violence and encourage them to commit extrajudicial killings.

“By boasting about the blood on his own hands, President Duterte will further embolden police and vigilantes to blatantly violate laws and carry out more extrajudicial executions without fear of being held to account,” Rafendi Djamin, the human rights group’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement.

Catholic faithful receive communion next to a tarpaulin with an 'anti-extra judicial killings' slogan during a mass offered for all the victims of extra judicial killings. Picture: AFP

“President Duterte should be fulfilling his obligations by ordering investigations into these killings and bringing those responsible to justice, not claiming a part in them,” Djamin said. “Statements like these continue to give everybody, including the police in the Philippines a license to kill in the knowledge that they are protected by the president.”