{Philippines’ leader threatens to terminate a deal that allows American troops into country after US scraps aid package.}<\/p>\n
President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to terminate a pact that allows US troops to visit the Philippines, reacting angrily to what he thought was a US decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
A US government aid agency said this week that its board deferred a vote on a renewal of the development assistance package for the Philippines “subject to a further review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties”.<\/p>\n
Duterte, whose administration has been criticised by Washington over a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, unleashed a barrage of expletives in response.<\/p>\n
He said the Philippines can do without US aid, called Americans “sons of bitches” and “hypocrites,” while praising China for offering what he said was huge financial assistance.<\/p>\n
According to a toll kept by Al Jazeera and other news sources, Duterte’s drug war has killed more than 6,100 people, including a handful of teenagers. <\/p>\n
On Monday, Duterte declared that “fewer people are being killed” and “they are almost finished off anyway”.<\/p>\n
Based on analysis of an official police report, 36 people on average have been killed every day during the 168 days of Duterte’s presidency.<\/p>\n
{{Impeachment risk}}<\/p>\n
The government insisted that those killed by police – more than 2,000 – died during legitimate anti-drug operations. The police also said that they were investigating other killings, which were carried out by unknown gunmen.<\/p>\n
Duterte risks impeachment after admitting on Monday to “personally” killing criminals when he was the mayor of Davao City, two Philippine senators said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The president boasted to business leaders that as Davao City mayor he used to prowl the streets on a motorcycle looking for “an encounter to kill”, just to show to local law enforcers he was able to do so.<\/p>\n
“I used to do it personally,” Duterte said. “If I can do it, why can’t you?”<\/p>\n
Justice minister Vitaliano Aguirre dismissed Duterte’s statement as an exaggeration.<\/p>\n
“It’s like a hyperbole, that’s the president, he is used to exaggerating just to put his message across,” Aguirre was quoted in radio reports as saying on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Even if that were true, Aguirre said it did not necessarily mean that he violated the law.<\/p>\n
“It could be done with a justifiable cause and justified circumstances as a public officer in order to arrest, but if they resisted. He must have been forced,” Aguirre said, referring to Duterte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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