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Duterte: What will I get in killing innocent people? I’m afraid of God’s wrath


Before jurists from the ASEAN region, President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday made a case on why he was not behind the deaths of innocent people in his administration's war on drugs.

“Tell me now, what is my sanctuary in the face of all this onslaught against the people? Do I kill innocent people? What will I get? You think God will like it? I will ask you,” he said in Malacañang.

The President said that God could just ask him if he really killed the thousands of drug suspects.

“You know God, if it’s really 10,000 and they are dead, why don’t you ask them? They are here already in hell. And you’ll get the true answer. And you say, ‘Why are you dead? What’s wrong with you? For what?’” he said.

Duterte also denied that he ever committed extrajudicial killings.

He added that he was not afraid of man’s wrath since he could always explain his actions done in the performance of his duty.

“If my duty fall short of the expectations of the people or would have a different view of how things would be run, I’ll accept it. I can go to prison even. What I’m afraid of is the wrath [of] God. It’s always God that counts,” he said.

But before his words could be misconstrued. Duterte elaborated that his God would not let crimes rise under his watch.

“Not the God of some religious people here. Maybe you have different gods. My God does not allow youngsters to be raped and to be killed. My God does not allow shabu to thrive, to destroy people’s lives,” he said.

“My God says that I have to do something because God says that you were elected to really serve the people. And if I go down, I will go down. If I go up, I go up. I place myself in this. Whether I go up or I go down, I will do the things which I have to do because it is my work,” he added.

Earlier this week, Duterte said he would distance himself from the war on drugs, after designating the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as the lead agency that would conduct anti-illegal drug operations instead of the Philippine National Police. — BAP, GMA News

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