Manila, Duterte tells son: 'If guilty, you're dead'

Paul Duterte is accused of association with crime and drug trafficking. The young politician denies having smuggled 120 million euros worth of methamphetamine. Opposition deputies say that president and family have long been involved in illicit activities.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - "If I have a child involved in drugs, I will kill them. So people will have nothing to complain about. " Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte defends his reputation as an inflexible iron man and declares that he will kill his son if the allegations of drug trafficking against him prove to be grounded, promising immunity to police officers responsible for his homicide.

Paul Duterte, a 42-year-old deputy mayor of Davao, resigned this month from a senate committee (photo) to deny his involvement in a Chinese criminal organization that introduced methamphetamines from China for about 120m euros. "I told Pulong [Paul's nickname]: 'My order is to kill you if you are arrested. I will protect the police who will kill you if it is true, "said the president in a speech held yesterday at the Presidential Palace.

Some opposition deputies and other critics of Duterte say that he and his family have long been involved in illicit activities dating back to the two decades of the president as mayor of the southern city of Davao. Senator Trillanes said he was in possession of information from the intelligence of a foreign country that indicted Paul Duterte.

Last year, Rodrigo Duterte, 72, won the presidential election promising an unprecedented campaign to eliminate illegal drugs from society and the killing of 100,000 drug dealers and drug addicts. Since he is in office, police report that he has killed more than 3,800 people in anti-drug operations, while thousands of others have been killed in unexplained circumstances. Human rights activists say however that extrajudicial killings have killed about 12,000 people. As president, Duterte said he was "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts and called children shot in the drug war "collateral damage".

• philippines
• manila
• president
• rodrigo duterte
• paolo duterte
• son
• drug
• drug war
• extrajudicial killings
• police
• operations