FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte, while maintaining his stance against apologizing for his administration’s war on drugs, took full responsibility for the killings during a congressional hearing on Monday.
Speaking before the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee, Duterte, who requested to be treated as a “witness,” defended the police officials who carried out the drug war, stating that he himself would bear the consequences.
“I and I alone, take full legal responsibility for everything the police had done pursuant to my order. I will be responsible and I should be the one imprisoned. Don’t blame the police who just followed my order. They were just doing their jobs,” Duterte said.
He further justified the bloody drug war as a measure to protect Filipinos, claiming he had addressed the country’s drug problem “firmly and without compromise.”
