Duterte touts Netflix series Amo: 'Glimpse of dark world of drugs'

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday cited a Netflix series to drive home a point about the dangers of the illegal drug trade which he wants to dismantle during his term.

Duterte called on the public to check out "Amo," saying it gives a "glimpse of the dark world of drugs."

"You go to the Internet, you go to the documentaries, there’s the Amo, locally produced. It’s what I’ve been telling you all along," the President said in a speech in Malacañang.  

"Amo", which debuted last month, follows the story of a high school student who gets trapped in the complicated web of drug dealings in the Philippines.

The series, however, has drawn opposition, with a mother of an alleged victim of the war on drugs starting an online petition to halt the airing on Netflix.

The series' director Brillante Mendoza has since belied claims that "Amo" is meant to glorify Duterte's bloody crackdown on narcotics, telling The Telegraph on April 8 that the series "will show the two sides of the coin."

He lamented that people have been quick to give their opinion "without going deeper into the issue."

Duterte has bristled at criticisms of his anti-illegal drugs policy, in which thousands have been killed since he took office on June 30, 2016. —JST, GMA News