Duterte to CHR chair Gascon: ‘Di ko alam kung bakla ka... sampalin talaga kita’

President Rodrigo Duterte again had choice words for Commission on Human Rights chairman Chito Gascon, this time threatening to slap the CHR official if their paths crossed.

Speaking before the 65th General Assembly of the League of Cities of the Philippines, Duterte lashed out at Gascon while discussing the effects of illegal drugs on Filipino families.

Gascon is one of the critics of the alleged extrajudicial killings blamed on Duterte's war on drugs.

"Human rights. Pu—bakit ka tahimik diyan? Kaya itong is Gascon, 't— ina 'pag nakita kita, leche ka. Better avoid that we cross paths. P— ina, sampalin talaga kita. Totoo lang," Duterte said. 

"Hindi ko alam kung bakla ka o either masipa kita o... Hindi mo naman ako mademanda. Sige daw beh. Iyon ang masakit sa akin. Kami dito—you don't even bother to find out kung sino ang namatay," he added.

This was not the first time that Duterte lambasted Gascon. In September, he asked the CHR chairman if he was a pedophile because of his "fixation" with young boys.

Gascon and the CHR was then focused on the killings of teen males in police operations.

Duterte also threatened to slap another human rights worker, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard, if she will investigate the Philippines' war on drugs.

GMA News Online has sought Gascon's reaction to Duterte's latest tirade but the CHR official has yet to respond.

When Duterte raised the possibility that Gascon was a pedophile in September, the CHR chairman said Duterte's insinuations were "unfortunate."

"That the President again has resorted to name-calling and to using hurtful language against me is unfortunate," Gascon, said in a text message to GMA News Online.

He hoped that Duterte would refrain from hurling criticisms against him "in order to have a common civic space."

"There may be differences between the positions we take in CHR and that taken by the Executive Branch, we hope this be viewed as part of the checks and balance system of Philippine Democracy," Gascon said. —NB, GMA News