SPEECH OF PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE’S SPEECH
DURING THE 56thANNIVERSARY OF THE
PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION ASSOCIATION (PHILCONSA)
Manila Hotel
September 26, 2017
Salamat po. Kindly sit down. Thank you for the courtesy.
As always, I have so many appointments for the day so that my speech—mga speech ko is prepared by the—just two pages. That’s about two sentences and a paragraph of the Constitution. I would not be a true Filipino if I don’t mention really the entrails of the presidency.
May I greet the former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, sir, good evening; the Ambassador Jozsef Bencze of Hungary and other members of the diplomatic corps; National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana; Solicitor General Jose Calida; former congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez; Justice Manuel Lazaro; retired Chief Justice Renato Puno; members of the Senate and House of Representatives; and, of course, Senator Enrile, sir, salamat for the kind words, you did a great service also to the nation because talagang buong puso ako nagsisilbi sa bayan; the officials, members, and employees for the Philippine Constitution Association; mga kasama ko sa gobyerno; mga kababayan.
Well, I said, I would not do justice just reading about—it’s only a half a minute. Maybe, you’d say that after all, mabuti pa naghanap tayo ng iba. I would be through in one minute and it is—I would say, not discourteous, but not adequate for me to be just talking a few words without substantial meaning.
Let me just state outright. I came from the Justice department. It’s their 120th anniversary. So let me reverse my—I’ll just start from where I left off. And the penultimate statement, I said that we are in trouble and this is the first time that I would reveal it because we’re talking about the Constitution and the interest of the country and, of course, the Bill of Rights and due process.
The Philippines today is a client of the—client state of the Bamboo Triad. They have taken over the operations sa— sad to say, Chinese but I do not mean the country and the people. The sense that they are—most of them are really into this kind of business. I said, they have decided to go international.
Philippines is a transshipment of shabu to America and it behooves upon America to work closely with the Republic of the Philippines, especially on this serious matter.
We are flooded with drugs and the locals here have been taken in, but they participate in the produce of the selling. And I think they are happy because they are protected. We have become a narco-state long ago. The Philippines, the barangay, is about 40 percent affected with this kind of disease and most of them are the barangay captains. And that is the reason I said, I am not telling you anything. But I told the congressmen, the Senate President and the Speaker that just listen to me. I’m not suggesting anything. Bahala na kayo. At sinabi ko iyong totoo, then I took them in to share the state secrets that are not really supposed to be revealed at this time.
But I think that because of the incessant use of the issue, [EJK-EJK-EJK]. It’s about time that we, be clear with each other. I am a worker of government who swore before the people and God that I will enforce the law. And it is part of that oath that I do not have to favor anybody and that the laws of the land will be applicable to all, the rich and the poor. Iyan ang pagkaintindi ko sa trabaho. That’s what I understand. How I should— So when I ran for the first time as mayor, it’s just after I was appointed for one year, Davao City was really a troubled place. We used to lose something like two or three policemen and soldiers a day through assassination.
And I was a prosecutor. And I was myself also tried in a kangaroo court when I was campaigning and they got hold of me. And I had to explain. Trabaho ko iyon eh. It’s my work. And if you kill me, everybody dies anytime, anyhow. So as long as you just tell the world that—I was referring to the NPA—that you killed me for doing my duty as a prosecutor, so be it! I’m ready to go. I have no illusions about life and death. The day I was born, I started to die.
And so when I became mayor, I became a fast friends and because hindi naman talaga kami mayaman. You know, we— you know, destiny has something to do with it and maybe God. But really, we started as migrants. Otherwise, kung ang tatay ko sa Cebu, o nanay ko sa Marawi, she was a daughter of a Maranao lady, eh ‘di hindi na sana kami nagpunta ng Davao, ang layo-layo. Pati my father was practicing his profession as a lawyer. Eh kung mayroon talaga kami doon sa amin, ‘di hindi na sana kami nagpunta ng ibang lugar.But because my father was eternally searching for the greener pasture, and you know—
Let me, if you’ll forgive me for taking a bit of your time. Alam mo kasi, most of the migrants in Mindanao went there as if for the better life. Better than what they had before you. And the Americans came up with the sloganeering, “Go to Mindanao because it is the land of promise.” Well, actually, we went there and found out that Davao City was owned only by about—count the number in your fingers, about seven or eight. All of them were—the land title there in the names of a few persons.
We have nothing against them. They were all Tagalogs. But you know, when they divided the Philippines, iyong mga homestead, mga cadastral lands. You know the map, was in the Philippines; it was only 19—early, 1918 up to 1925. They introduced the homestead, American practice, and divided Mindanao into several territories. So just like an imperialist would do, ‘yun ang ginawa nila. And ibinigay na nila sa mga tao. So iyong pagdating ng—the huge migration took place between the islands of Leyte, Cebu, Bohol because it was nearer in proximity. Bababa ka lang eh.
And Davao City and the rest of the—is suffering from— iyong lupa. So it was a hot issue and I promised the NPAs that just— you know, just go out for a while and do not (expletive), [excuse me], do not mess up with my city. And I said, I will govern Davao the way I should do. And there were a lot of killings and those who were holding arms, were given freely by the military because of anti-communists sentiments. You were right away given an arms. So when peace time came, everybody, almost everybody in the community was holding firearms.
That made the place— you know, if you’re from Davao—that made the place really very disorderly and crime-ridden. So I said, and it was there that they started the drugs.
When I won as mayor, I said, “I will serve you faithfully. And if you think I’m not—and even the communists, I’d try to invite you to kill me if I violate my oath.” But I said, “I will make Davao peaceful. But do not destroy the city because I will kill you. And do not, you know, destroy the youth of the land because they are just our only assets.” The reason why is very simple. We are not all millionaires. When we retire, kami dito sa gobyerno, we put our place exactly hoping that the savings or the pensions given us would sustain us for the years after retirement.
And there is no way of knowing how many years would I live after my retirement. And most of us are just not even— there’s no such thing as a middle income family here. It’s really the rich and the poor, period.
Eh kami, we, in government, I supposed I get a bigger sum because pegged to the last salary. Pero doon na ako kukuha. How sure can I be that the pension that I get from the government will sustain me for the rest until God calls me in, iyon ang mahirap. Iyon ang masakit sa akin. Because who will buy the oxygen? Who will pay for the hospitals of a regular government worker? Who will pay for the antibiotics? And eventually who will pay the funeral parlor and our burial expenses? It’s our children.
No such thing in America as—there’s a pension. No nothing. What you get is something an ordinary employee. You get about—the most is 100,000, maybe lower. Policemen, they used to retire at 32,000. My—and you destroy—when I die, at most of my children or majority of them are hooked into drugs. Who will pay the price? It’s society, the Filipino. Who’s to be blame? Well, of course, government! Eh pu— dumaan kayo dito at wala naman kayong ginawa. Why are we— there are so many zombies running around.
Now, count the number of Filipinos, children, mothers, and fathers killed since the advent of drugs. And they vary in number that we killed 10,000 or 12,000. Where do you get the facts? You must be idiots! You just read the newspaper and say, “This Duterte is a killer.” Or you rely on the bias of your representatives because the opposition gave it to them. That has always been my—the issue, even when I was mayor, women— to be frank with you, and killing.
Well because in my time, I told the police and the military: “Do your work! Just now, magtrabaho kayo!” Kapag magtrabaho kayo, maraming engkuwentro, there will be a lot of encounters. You work, do not give me that shit of just sitting there. I will not accept it. We will all die in this God— or it’s either we take control of our place.
Ano itong isa? There are Filipinos working abroad. In the Middle East, I will not specify the country, but I was there once upon a time to work on the release of a Filipina who was imprisoned. And I was able to talk to King Fahd when I was governor—no sorry, Congressman. Nakiusap ako, I went there to beg and he said, “You better talk to one of the ministers.” And I was introduced to a member of the Parliament. Then we talked about the plight, the sad story of the Filipinos.
And this is what he said, he said to me, “You warn your countrymen not to go here. But if they do come here, let them live with the environment.” You know, there are many places in the Middle East and in African countries that if you work as a household domestic helper and you are paid, and if you work there, bought from the slave markets of Africa, you are used. So the head of the family will use you sometimes, sometimes the son, sometimes the brother-in-law. And just entertaining the flesh, it would take them until so many hours, they sleep only three hours a day. And they continue to suffer humiliation and dignity. And they continue to send money here so that their children can go to school, can get education. The father is in one country, the other— the mother is in another country.
You know, when a child gets hooked in drugs, even with the father or mother, it becomes a dysfunctional family. There is already a dysfunction because you know. Alam natin and even your sons and daughters that you know, they begin to steal the cars, your car, they will mortgage it and everything, and they steal. And they graduate into a high-time business of robbing and killing. The poor, when they have the urge, they do not have any money, they go into a hold-up spree and they kill people.
Can I have— where’s my aide? Iyan. Iyan oh.
Well, this is the updated version. This is supposed to be a national secret but I’ll just show you one page. How many of them are—isa lang iyan o, Region I, o ito. O, look at the list.
So ganito. Past administration, July 10 to July 16: Anti-drug operations, 7,000—99,710. Killed in anti-drug operations, 206.
My administration: 70,854. How many died? 3,811, to date. These are legitimate encounters duly recorded.
Now, there are some countries which are insulting us to open our records to them, everything. Who are you to do that to my country? If you don’t believe our records, then go out and find something else to do. We do not fabricate. Killed in police operation, total policemen killed, 85; Marawi casualties connected with the initial flashpoint—the Marawi war was ignited by the service of a summon and a warrant of arrest of one of the drug lords there. There was a firefight and that started the rebellion.
And I was really aghast to know that until now, they have so many bullets, ordnance and everything that the fight is still going on.
Police killed in police operation, 85; wounded in police operation, 215; ang casualties is 58.
Soldiers, killed-in-action, drug related: 146; wounded-in-action, 2,592.
And you say that we are killing our own countrymen, for what reason? You enjoy slaughtering your own countrymen? Iyan ang mahirap. Ang masakit sa akin, what is really very painful is, there a lot of business going around, this time it was the Chinese—not the government, I said, not the people. I do not have any qualms against them. But look, what am I supposed to do?
You know, when I said in Davao, “I will clean up the city. For those who want to go out, go out now because if I destroy it, I’ll kill you.” When I became President, that was the same message, “If you destroy my country, I will kill you. If you destroy the young people of this country, the greatest and only resource of this Republic, I will kill you, period!” You all can go to hell if you disagree with me. But find me a law which says that a President of the Republic cannot say, “I will kill you to protect my country, I will kill you to protect the young people of this country.” Find me a law. (applause).
You know what? I may be just an old—one of the guys in Mindanao. But nobody, nobody in this country can question my love for my country. I will— I’m ready to die. I’m not even asking for a recognition. I’d love to die for my country, period! Wala nang— (applause) I do not want to aspire to be a hero, I do not need that because my only worry is that my children and the grandchildren of my children. Do not do it here. Do not do it here.
Now, I’m warning. A lot of guys has taken over. Do not do it here. Do not do it here because I said, one of these days, America would be a sorry state. They are no longer—the cocaine and heroin travels a long route. You just cook shabu in the boundary, just what like the trawler, the Chinese trawlers are doing, cooking shabu in the ships and throwing it over board and placing a GDP (sic) GPS. There’s a GDP (sic) GPS so that the drug lords here, ganun,travel ganun.
So if we meet in one— if we meet in one corner, I’m sorry. I am really sorry. I’m saying it to God, not to anybody else. I will not offer apologies or excuses. I have to do what I must do, period. (applause) I am—thank you.
I hope you realize my statement when I became President. I told you, in the dealing of problems of corruption, drugs, criminality, I make it peaceful for the economy to thrive. I never said that I was an expert in economics. I was honest enough to say, “I’ll take all of my—” mga kababa— Sonny Dominguez is a childhood friend. Tugade is from Cagayan, Tuguegarao.
They areall valedictorians. Pero ako, ordinaryo lang and—pero huwag mo talagang subukan iyon. Huwag mo talagang subukan ninyo, because I will not allow my country to sink. If you think that you are earning millions here, ha, better enjoy it because I said, “Magtatagpo rin tayo.”
You know, what is really very funny is this. When I became President, I did not start operating police punitive action right away. Kapa ako eh. You know why? Because on the first day of my term, I said, “Give me all the available data of the drug problem.” And I found there nine generals. Nine (expletive) generals running the show here. So what do you think? But there were already people being killed by the dozens. You count, you go back to the records so that you will be fair. Huwag iyong basta salita ka lang nang salita. There were several killings before I assumed duty. Ten, fifteen, it was already a—almost a vicious thing every day.
It was not only after two months that I allowed Bato, the PNP Chief, to start. But then, karamihan na, sige patay. Now that— I’d tell you. I will not name the countries. The funeral parlors complained that there are a lot of bodies piling there in their bodega and they arealmost a warehouse already.
Nobody was claiming the bodies. I was not operating yet. Who do you think killed those pursuit? Nobody claimed them because they were all foreigners. Could you ever think a Christian country—whatever the crime of your—their carcass did, kukunin mo talaga iyan sa punerarya. But I said, remember there were complaints of piling up of bodies and nobody was claiming, because they have no relatives here. The drug lords are there, they are just a piece of meat, carcass, bahala diyan yan. And that was that issue na bakit maraming patay sa punerarya? They keep on pouring formalin because it was already stinking to the heavens.