Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has threatened corrupt government officials of throwing them off a flying helicopter, warning he has personally carried out the action before and had no qualms about doing it again.
Rodrigo Duterte
The former prosecutor and governor said that he once hurled a Chinese man suspected of rape and murder out of a helicopter.
“If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out. I have done this before, why would I not do it again?” Duterte said during a speech to victims of a typhoon on Tuesday, a clip of which was posted later on a video feed of the president’s office.
According to police, more than 5,900 people have been killed since Duterte took office in late June and declared a war on drugs, leading to fears of mass extrajudicial killings and a breakdown in the rule of law.
Duterte’s latest threat comes just a few weeks after he admitted killing people during his 22 years as a mayor of Davao city, sometimes riding a motorcycle looking for “encounters to kill”.
He said those killings were part of legitimate police operations, including a hostage incident. Some senators have warned Duterte he risks impeachment over his comments.
