As with Saddam, Gaddafi and Assad, Duterte says US doesn’t like him

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday compared himself to world leaders that the United States disliked, as he continued to deal with the international community's concern over the thousands of alleged extrajudicial slays linked to his war on drugs.

With sociopolitical concerns surrounding the Philippine market starting to dent the confidence of international investors, according to S&P Global Ratings, Duterte said he would open the country to China and Russia from the other side of the "ideological barrier."

“Iraq, Libya, Syria. It’s in turmoil, every day bomba nang bomba. Ano’ng gusto ninyo? Ayaw na ninyo kay Saddam. Ayaw na ninyo kay Gaddafi. Ayaw ninyo kay Assad. That’s the problem. Ayaw ninyo ako, tapos idale ninyo ang buong Pilipinas,” Duterte said after the induction of the officers of the Malacañang Press Corps.

"Mag-withdraw kayo ng investments? Go ahead. Be my guest. I will tell my countrymen I am responsible. Bear with me but I will make the correction right away. I will open up doon sa kabilang side of the ideological barrier—China, Russia, come," he added.

He mentioned opening the country's telecommunications, airline, and shipping industries to Russia and China.

"You want lands? Sixty years, plus another 60 years, that is like a lifetime, more than. After 60 years hindi mo na kailangan ‘yang factory mo, pati lupa mo diyan. Things would then change, maybe for the better," Duterte said.

While Dutete didn’t mention the country in his recent speech, he had mentioned many times before that the US led efforts that led to the destruction of Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

The most recent was when he addressed the victims of the Roxas Night Market and their families in Davao City last September 20.

“For example like Amerika, they invaded Iraq kaya galit talaga iyong Muslim e. On the pretext that there were weapons of mass destruction, sinira nila ang Iraq, pinatay nila si Saddam, ngayon ang Iraq e ‘di wala na. It’s a failed country, nobody is in control,” Duterte said then.

“They undermined Libya, bagsak. Ngayon ito ngayon ang Syria. Ang Syria tumagal kasi bina-backup-an ng Russia pati Intsik. Kaya nahirapan sila diyan ngayon, maraming actor, maraming players. Tayo dito, it has the tail-end of the world’s history. Kasali tayo dito because iyong Syrian pati ang Libyan nadesperado iyong mga bata nasira iyong bayan nila, nagkaisa and they formed ISIS,” he added. —NB, GMA News