Continuing his week-long assault on America, the president of the Philippines dared the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to “oust him.”
President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday that foreign powers are trying to bring him down to end his brutal war on drugs, reports Channel News Asia.
“You want to oust me? You want to use the CIA? Go ahead,” he said. Last month, Duterte claimed that the CIA wanted him dead.
“Be my guest, I don’t give a shit,” Duterte said of talk of a “people power” movement like the one that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
“I’ll be ousted? Fine. If so, it’s part of my destiny. Destiny carries so many things. If I die, that’s part of my destiny. Presidents get assassinated,” he added.
Friday marked Duterte’s 100th day in office. Since he became president June 30, more than 3,000 people have died in Duterte’s war on drugs. Police killed 1,523, and another 1,838 people were reportedly killed by vigilantes.
“The drug campaign will not end. It will result in so many deaths, and I do not apologize for it,” the president said.
“I talked with the Americans, and they said, ‘We don’t do that. The Americans don’t do that,” Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana explained to GMA News reporters. “Maybe [Duterte] has some information that I don’t.”
Duterte regularly mentions that he fears that he will die before he finishes his six-year term in 2022, he added.
Duterte reportedly asked officials to carry on the fight against drugs if he passes and lashed out against the U.S., specifically Obama, who he told to “go to hell.”
In his latest speech, Duterte refers to Western critics of his administration as “animals,” yet officials believe the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines is still stable.
“I think it’s just going through these bumps on the road. Relationships sometimes go through this stage … It’s part of maybe growing up,” explained Lorenzana.
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