Duterte: I hope the next administration will be better than mine

President Rodrigo Duterte expressed hope on Saturday that the next administration would be better in "all aspects" with only two months remaining until his term ends.

"When I think of my country...I hope and I pray that the next administration will be much better than mine in all aspects. Dinadasal ko 'yan para sa kababayan, para sa inyo (I am praying for it for my fellow countrymen)," Duterte said during his visit to the families affected by the onslaught of Tropical Depression Agaton in Pontevedra, Capiz.

Filipinos will head to the polls on May 9 to elect Duterte's successor, who will take over on June 30. Duterte has repeatedly said he is not endorsing

Duterte also wished the next president success in addressing the communist insurgency. 

He urged communist rebels anew to surrender, adding that he was hoping that his successor would "reconnect" with them and "I pray that it would succeed."

Duterte tried to reach a political settlement with the communist rebels, but peace negotiations collapsed in 2017, with the President accusing the rebels of failing to display sincerity due to their "acts of violence and hostility" that endangered the lives and properties of innocent individuals. 

In December 2020, he declared that there would no longer be any ceasefire between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army until the end of his term.

In his speech, Duterte stressed that he only targeted criminals in his campaign against illegal drugs, which he said was different from Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine.

“Pero ako tapos na but I promised you 'yung droga kaya gusto kong magsalita. Ang droga hintuin 'yan ninyo. Just like the communists, you drop the drugs or otherwise, I will kill you,” he said.

(I'm done, but I promised you I'd talk about drugs. Stop the illegal drug trade. Just like the communists, you drop the drugs, otherwise, I will kill you.)

“Si Putin pinapatay niya lahat bata, babae, [at] matanda, ako pinapatay ko criminal… mga durogista because kayong nasa droga pag pinapakain ninyo mga anak namin eventually you will destroy my country,” he added.

(Putin killed children, women, and the elderly. I killed criminals and drug dealers because if you are feeding our children with drugs, eventually you will destroy my country.)

He earlier said that Putin’s actions deserved “condemnation."

The Philippines' official tally of drug war deaths was over 6,000, though rights groups say that the actual number is much higher.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had temporarily suspended its investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed in Duterte's war on drugs.

The ICC investigation was suspended after the Philippines requested prosecutors to defer to the government's investigation into the drug war killings. —VBL, GMA News