Screengrab from www.liberation.fr
A French newspaper has tagged President Rodrigo Duterte as a “serial killer president” amid a piling body count in the administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Duterte landed on the front page of France’s “The Liberation” daily, which featured the Philippine government’s relentless antidrug drive in its four-page story.
The article also touched on Duterte’s expletive-laced statements against US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, and his controversial remarks that drew parallels with Adolf Hitler’s killing of Jews and the war on drugs.
READ: Duterte ‘Hitler’ talk reaps international censure
In a radio interview on Sunday morning, Interior Secretary Mike Sueno said the “serial killer” tag against Duterte was “very unfair.”
“Kung hindi ito ginagawa ni Pangulong Duterte, magiging narco-state tayo… Sa aming pananaw, walang extrajudicial killings dito dahil karamihan sa mga namamatay ay ‘yung mga lumalaban sa kapulisan,” Sueno told radio DZMM.
(If President Duterte doesn’t do this, we will become a narco-state. In our point of view, there are no extrajudicial killings here because most of those who die are those who fight the police.)
The Liberation was among the latest foreign media outfits that reported on the Duterte administration’s antinarcotics campaign, which continued to draw international attention amid criticisms of suspected extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses.
International publications like The Guardian, TIME, The New York Times, and the Washington Post previously featured different aspects of the war on drugs.
Duterte and his men have repeatedly criticized the foreign media for supposedly spinning his statements.
As of Oct. 7, the Inquirer’s “Kill List” noted 1,234 drug-related deaths since June 30 or after President Duterte assumed office. CDG/rga
READ: Dutertespeak: A guide for the foreign media
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