Duterte says he's distanced himself from war on drugs

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he has distanced himself from the administration's war on drugs following his decision to let the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conduct all operations against illegal narcotics in the country.

At the wake of Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Duterte said he doesn't even want to read reports on anti-drug operations.

“Kanang droga, nagpalayo na man ko para wa'y daghang istorya. Whether kanang—wala na, tanan. Tanan gyud. Bureau of Customs, police, Armed Forces. Ako sila nga ‘Hawa na mo diha.’ Hasta ako, wa na ko maminaw,” he said.

“Ingon nako ‘Ayaw na ko taga-i'g report basta PDEA na mao'y bahala.’ Basin pag—mao na'y solusyon nga tarong. I don't know if it is really the right path but mao man ni nisulod sa akong ulo. Leave it that way,” he added.

["On drugs, I distanced myself to avoid the issues. Whether—no more, all. All of them. Bureau of Customs, police, Armed Forces. I told them, 'Get out of there.' Even I, I’m no longer listening," he said.

I said, 'Don’t give me reports, just let PDEA handle it.' Maybe—that’s the proper solution. I don’t know if it is really the right path but that’s what came into my head. Leave it that way," he added.]

Duterte ordered PDEA to handle all the anti-drug operations, saying he hoped this decision would make his critics happy.

But Duterte vowed to be relentless in the government’s fight against terrorism.

“Pero kanang uban, terrorism ug kanang ubang krimen... Parehas sa Manila karon na sige na pud samok. We have to deal with it as a serious problem of atong pang-gobyerno.

["But for terrorism and other crimes… Just like in Manila, there are lots of problems. We have to deal with it as a serious problem of government," he said.] —JST, GMA News