President’s Speech at the 115th Anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte led the 115th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) where he formally commissioned the MRRV Tubbataha at the PCG Headquarters in Port Area, Manila on 13 October 2016. The President was accompanied to the event by Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Mr. Christopher ‘Bong’ Go and Commandant of the PCG, Rear Admiral (RADM) William Melad.

SPEECH OF PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE

DURING THE 115TH ANNIVERSARY OF PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD

AND COMMISSIONING OF BRP TUBBATAHA

Philippine Coast Guard Headquarters, Port Area, Manila

October 12, 2016

Thank you. Kindly sit down.

Ambassador Ishikawa, the Ambassador of Japan for the Philippines; Representative Cesar V. Sarmiento,Chairman of the House Committee on Transport, sir; Rear Admiral William Melad, Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard; distinguished guests; fellow workers in government; my fellow countrymen.

Let me start by giving our sense of gratitude to the Japanese Ambassador Ishikawa for our heartfelt thanks for giving us the ships, some are here, others are coming and your desire to help the Philippines. Sir, Ambassador, we have a long history of friendship and cooperation. As a matter of fact, Japan is one of the biggest contributor to the assistance of the Filipino people.

And in my city alone, JICA projects are abundant and it has redoundto the benefit of my countrymen over in Mindanao. And now, I’m the President and you continue to pour the aid that you feel you want to extend to us, and again, I would like to thank the Japanese people, your Emperor and your government.

We need the ships, if you count the number of islands of about 7,000 plus that would account to so many great mile of coast lines. It is not enough, but at least, we have the ships to begin with. The old ones, plus the new one that has been delivered to us would greatly help us is this endeavor.

Our main focus now is terrorism, human trafficking and drugs. But on my notes here, I would like to stress to you now, that our main focus is the drug problem. Why? Because it will destroy our country. Why? If we do not interdict the present problem now, considering the magnitude and widespread contamination of the people of the Philippines, it will result someday, maybe in a failed state.

Alam ho ninyo, during the time of General Santiago, that was about 2, 3 years ago, he gave us the figure of 3 million addicted Filipinos, yun sa panahon niya. Iyong akin, we did not know the dimension of that problem. I know that Davao was also hit. I know that Davao was the favorite focus of the human rights, and I do not blame them, for the alleged extra judicial killing because of the number of people killed.

You know, once upon a time, I was a Prosecutor and I’ve had a lot of heartaches, cases dismissed for so many and varied reason. One, is that the evidence that reaches the Courts is not really the one that was confiscated on the ground. There were a lot of substitutions, a lot of corruption going on. I could only suffer in silence. I swallowed all of those misgivings. Sana I said someday, I might be able to do something more. So I was the favorite whipping boy when I became Mayor because I was really very strict.

What’s the reason why? Mas marami ang patay sa Davao kaysa ibang lugar. Well, for while, having donned the travails of law’s enforcement, I was quite aware of the attendant problems and travails of a law enforcer. Ang police lang one, if there is a case filed against him, he has to go the PolCom to answer, he has to go to the internal affairs to answer, just one crime. He has to worry about the Ombudsman and he has to worry about the human rights. Hindi malaman ng pulis, mabubuang, hindi lang ninyo alam, the guy there outside. That once a case is filed against him except for the officers, automatically they are suspended. Pati iyong mga officers, but on a long term, two years, pag wala na ngang nangyari iyong kaso, they are restored. But itong policeman hindi. Then on that day, with an entry fee in the police anywhere with only P14,000. How do you think the human being will survive?

Suspended kaagad iyan on that day, wala na iyong pagkain sa opisina and even the small few things of financing the trip of the children to and fro from the school. Kaya doon sa akin, if you really want to know, if a policeman or a military man for that matter or a government security for as long as he follow, iyong trabaho niya, he will have my support. And they had my support and I supply the money—take home if they are suspected. I see to it that they have one sack of rice to eat every month. I give them almost a grocery of—para may ulam, so to complete the meal. And I take care of the lawyers and everything.

So what do I get in return? I get the security forces working for me efficiently and because they are industrious, they have more to encounter and eventually, the more cases files against them. But in my 22 years as Mayor, I have never allowed a military man, a policeman, the security forces to go to jail because they were doing their duty. Never allowed it. I fought all the way up, tooth and nail. There was a time, 27 police officers were recommended for dismissal. I raised hell and I said, I would allow it even if I have to—or might as well, ask them to join me and go to the mountains and fight government. If that is how things turned out to be with all our good intentions.

Now, with the Coast Guard having the ships, well, number one is maritime safety, then rescue, then protection of the environment and the—our intervention or interdiction sa drugs. Let me just explain to you, my longing desire: I am a Filipino, I do not claim greatness, I do not have the credentials even, I graduated on a 75, 76, 75 level of grades, barely enough to climb.

All of the Cabinet members that you see now are my friends, my fraternity brothers and people from Davao whom I know. I could not have selected my Cabinet from here and that was the criticism, magkaibigan—friends, magkainuman—drinking partners. But for the life of me, I have a serious problem and I cannot drink anymore. I do not go out, after work, I go back to my bedroom and start on state papers.

Ngayon, dito, why? What’s the passion? It’s because I have to defend the lives of the people not only the criminals who created them, not only the drugs who financed them but the civilians who were killed along the way. And because most of them do not have money, if you go out in the streets at night, there were a lot of hold-ups, there are a lot of rapes, they just pull you in one dark corner and they would just ravish the women.

The human rights starts to harp on, even the Human Rights nga and said, the culture of violence. My God, be honest to yourself. The culture of violence started when the drug problem was allowed to go astray all these years. Nobody was doing about it, except in Davao, because I was very strict and the police and the security forces had my backing. And so there were a lot of encounters and therefore, a lot died. And I was the favorite whipping boy of the human rights for simply—out of the numbers. And I said, because people are working. And because I support them and I defend them. If all of things were done, killing people in the line of duty. And one thing is fundamental for all, the military, the police and the security forces and even the security guards assisting in the arrest of the private security…

I told everybody when I became the President, go out and hunt for them, arrest them. Announced your authority if there is still time to do it and place him under arrest and tell them that he is being placed under the custody of the law. And if he does not submit, you know if the criminals resist the police, your duty is to arrest and if there is a resistance, you have to overcome the resistance to bring him to the court of justice if there is a warrant for his arrest. And if there is none, and you catch him selling shabu, committing a crime in your presence or about to commit a crime in your presence, or has in fact, committed a crime in your presence, you do not need a warrant. Just go ahead and announce your authority and bring him.

Now, if he presents a resistance, a violent one, and if you think that he is armed with a lethal weapon and you will die, then my God, shoot him dead. That was my order. I may not repeat every time I say go out and hunt for them, because you guys, you have the basic two years training about criminal law, criminal evidence and all of those things. And as a matter of fact, when I graduated, when I passed the Bar, I got married very early. I had to work as a Professor in the police academy in southern Mindanao, which is in Davao. I taught criminal law, criminal evidence and criminal procedure. But all of these things are already imbued in the minds of the police, no need for me really to lecture every day.

But the sheer number given by General Santiago of PDEA of 3 million, when I was in Laos, I had a chance to—had a talk with—and during my state visit with President Widodo, and I asked him, “Mr. President how many addicts are there in your country?” And he said, “You will not believe it, but it’s 4 million.” And I look at the heavens and said, well, the last survey or at least the census or the data given to us by General Santiago was 3. Let alone during my time, it was about 700,000, then slowly, it climb to 8, 9 and by the year ends, I would have about also a million additional addicts.

So if you compare Indonesia, which is a big—2 great islands, 3 maybe, with 460 million, with 4 million addicts. Now, compare it to my country, a very small one, 7,000 islands, I said from apart and I have to take care of this number. What’s the solution? Kill them all? You cannot build a nation over the bones of your countrymen that is (unclear). But what about this problem now of drugs?

Well, had I not been elected President, nobody would have known the sheer number of our problem. Why? Because even during the past administrations, they were the military aides, generals and all, who were the aides of the politicians who where the candidates lining for the presidency.

I said, had I not been the elected President and started to squeeze everybody, we know now the number, the sheer number. Now, when I started my campaign in Davao and in—during the presidency, I said: “Do not destroy my country, we are short of everything and we can hardly cope up. Do not ever tinker with the interest of my country, because I will kill you.” And I made a second statement: “Do not destroy the youth of the land. Because if I do not do anything, I would have compromised the next generation.”

We are short of funds. All critic, every one of them, every country would just say, “Mr. Duterte, why don’t you just build rehab houses and treat them.” Fine. That’s good, I like it. The problem is they should know because they are running a government similar to ours, and you know what country it is, very similar including the Constitution. That I am operating on a budget that I inherited from my predecessor. And remember that this budget that I am operating now was prepared the other year to be implemented this year and the budget next year is being prepared by us for next year’s implementation. Wala akong—there was no money. I could not get the money from the Armed Forces and transfer it to the Department of Health. I cannot do that, it is not allowed, it would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul. It ain’t allowed. So I had just to stand there helpless, but with all the going on.

In the past administration, the culture of violence was already there. Please take note of the statistics, but the victims then were: children raped, family inside the house massacred every day, the volume of crime before. The volume of crime now is just pittance. Dito lang kasi, it’s only in Manila where there’s a lot of fighting, but in the other, wala na. We are down by 50 per cent. 49 in Mindanao, in the crime rate against crimes of person or crimes against property.

So we had to work double time. I said, target the big ones. And when they see the big ones there’s sprawled, with shorts and their T-shirts. Why? Do you think that they are really, they are big ones actually selling, you know, they come here, do business in our country, selling everything insight and during night time, they go to the China town and the selling of drugs, the transaction, is always a brisk activity.

So, we had to act. Why? Because it is a self preservation thing. The 4 million is not concentrated in one barangay, they are spread throughout the Philippines. And with 4 million into shabu, what do you think will happen to the next generation? They don’t understand it, because it is not their concern. Were it for the lives of their citizens, they were have done than worst. So, but it’s not their problem, they always try to sport about human rights and everything. That human rights issue was against me ever since I became Mayor, and you from Davao, Mindanao, you know that.

It was an issue; it’s always an issue of women and drugs, killings, extra judicial,that I had several wives and—well, my wives, they have left me, I have forgiven them. So that’s not an issue anymore. But remember, that issue against me during the last presidential election was a non-issue. You are all witnesses. The never issue came out until the time when I was hitting the ratings up to 32 and stayed there to win the election of 15 million voting for me with the majority, with sheer number of 6 million over my next. Why? I come from Mindanao. Some of you do not even know where Mindanao is, no offense intended.

Why? From the outside, I came in here. I was the only non-persona in the national stage. Where did I get the 15 million and a margin of 6 million? It was in the messaging, one of the greatest victories with that margin of almost 7 million. What was my capital stock? My face? Nobody knew me. I was a probinsyano; neither was I an actor ever since. I’m just an ordinary face there in the streets. What, Money? If you only know, there were a lot of big business here who contributed money I’d like to tell you now. Now, if you want to know who they are, you ask me after this. For those who had business with government, never mind. I was prepared to lose; for anyway, I was not prepared to win.

The political party was a moribund one. It was a local party for all of the elections participated. But I just got into the wagon and used it and with the little money from the Davaoeños and for the limited time that I could visit. I did not even have one single governor in Luzon except Imee Marcos. Wala akong barangay captain, neither a councilor nor mayor or congressman.

So, what’s the message? The message is: I promised them, you guys, no corruption and it will be a clean government, I assure you. I promise you to end the travails of the drug problems hitting our young population. And I’m doing it and there are some guys who will killed along the way and criminality.

Economic or economics will come. Make the country peaceful and they will come, erase corruption and they will come. Why do you think I said that? Eh you go to Davao. You have been to Davao, I’m sure. Why? People can walk there safely without any problem, they go out of night, they are not being mugged or molested.

And my orders to the police was: Ask your beautiful daughter and your wife to walk the streets at night in Davao City. If they go home or they come home undisturbed, unbridled by their activity of joy going around, unmolested, then that is the standard I want for my constituents. And just, if given enough time, and in the fullness of God’s time, we will have it. We will have it. I will force the issue against the Filipino people, ito ang sundin natin: No corruption.

So I ask that every Cabinet member or guys now in government, for all of us, not even a whisper, like Caesar’s wife, you must be beyond whisper. Because then, we lose our friendships. I got all of my friends there because I have trust in them. But I said the only thing that I ask of them: No corruption.

Now in this—back to drugs. I have to do what I have to do.

One, it is self-preservation of the race. I have to protect the children. Now, imagine the last previous administration without being specific about the President. Look at the nature of the crimes committed, you have children, one year old, 18 months raped. A mother killed because she was becoming the devil in the house, a son raping a grandmother and all of these things. Well, crime against chastity, crimes against all—person.

Now, when we get several murders, I remember, remember that when I started this campaign, there are policemen there, remember, I started by firing several police generals. I warned them to resign before I’d be sworn to. Remember that they were also named. Then remember that there are many policemen now in the wanted list and they are appropriately called ‘ninja’, the group. This is the warning that I gave you, this issorting—out of time.

Be careful, and I said to you guys, kayong mga security, the army, the police, hindi ito kaya ng isang tao. If I go out suddenly, or suddenly, I disappear from the scene or the presidency, if the problem would outlast me, please take care of this problem because I think, no president, and even me, can solve it without your help. Now, whoever succeeds me, it’s your take but you have to do, sisirain talaga ang bayan natin, believe me. Sisirain.

Then, you should read Ioan Grillo’s—saan iyong libro na ano? This is the book which I have distributed to the officers corps, but I do not think I had the chance to visit here before. it’s Ioan Grillo, it says ‘Gangster Warlords.’ This is actually the history of Escobar and if you have read the—or the narco’s, this is the way. The South American countries failed and fell one by one. It is really a non-fiction and it’s all there for you to read. Exactly the same.

May I end, I said be careful that there are about five thousand barangay captains in my list. Nagdadalawang isip ako, I’m trying to vacillate whether to release it or not. For simply if you will read it, you will be discouraged, you will be downhearted, because these guys are elected by the people in an election which is supposed to take place next month. I pleaded to Congress, call off the elections because these guy would still try, they have the money and what is really worse is there are policemen, 6,000 of them. Hindi ko—I cannot even announce them anymore. I would not have the time to announce their names individually.

So what I would like to know is also whether the Justice Department, because there are prosecutors in that—also corrupt, and I will just send the list to the DILG, Local Government Secretary Sueno. Hindi ko na kaya, kasi if I read it, tapos magkapatayan, if I read all the names and they would start to cleanse themselves among themselves to prevent, you know, being drawn into the vortex of the shabu, mahihirapan tayo. But we are placing our children in danger.

If you think that it cannot be solved by the civilians, then I’m telling you now, solve it for yourself, for after all, you are mandated by the Constitution to preserve the country which means to say, the youth. The future Filipinos, save them, do your work and prevent the erosion of the integrity of our country.

Wala talaga eh—hindi ko nga—If I cannot do it, nobody can. You know me. You know the rest of those who ran during the last election. You know their character. You know their—the limits of their persona. If I cannot do it— then give them 1, 000 years, they cannot do it. That’s why, I’m warning you. I’m not asking you to do anything drastic or extra ordinary. I’m just asking you to sleep on it very carefully because the portals of the national government has been opened and Narco politics has crept in.

De Lima, do not delude yourself about her kneeling down. I warned her 8 months ago, before the election. I was summoned by the Senate, there was rice smuggling and in the course of the Senate hearing, Mr. Enrile, the Senator, asked me, “If you find Bangayan smuggling rice in your city. What will you do?” And I said, “Mr. Senator, this guy is robbing us of 7 billion a year of taxes. If I find him in Davao City, I’ll kill him for 7 million.”

Then Jinggoy Estrada, the ever—he’s listening now, I think it’s live. The smart aleck, would just also, “Si ano, ano yun? What’s that, what did you say?” And he was winking his left eye. I said, “Mr. Senator, I’d give you an answer you want to hear, “papatayin ko yan pag nakita ko sa Davao. He has done so harm, 7 billion is 7 billion.”

Now, I’ll give you a computation. I’ll close my talks with you. There are estimated three, huwag na iyong akin. Leave out the—that we’ll have to sort out mine. Until now, I’m just trying to validate, revalidate, and validate and revalidate so that I’d be fair for everybody.

The list, the latest, is from the military, to the police, to the PDEA and the drug enforcement. Then, I again insisted, it goes back to a civilian agency, DILG. I said, “Validate it. Review it before I finally give it to somebody else’s possession.” Sabi ko sa kanila, “Now, the National has already opened to narco politics.” I do not think that it would be good to have the elections sa Barangay Captain. I do not even think that just a few months away, we will have again the local elections. Since ano, I really do not know, maybe I’ll—that’s what I said, “If you do not want me because there are people who want me—to oust me, starting from a country outside. The only thing that they could do is criticize without even looking for the truth.

Here is a—iyong newspaper mo, Ma’am. Yung Newspaper. If you are friend, if you are an ally, if you were join by a Western alliance, you should do this. It’s a dormitory, apartment, bunk houses and they have built it for us, ni hi, no ha, no announcement and it would housed 1,600.

I ordered the military to open up the military camps because it is only the military, the agency which has so many big tracks of lands. And I ordered them to open up spaces para ilagay ito. This is now in Fort Magsaysay. It will be completed byOctober 15. We’ll have the opening. This is how you treat your friends. You do not go about reprimanding.

When I was Mayor, I said, I was the favorite whipping boy. Good. You know, but these idiots, they don’t realize that I’m already the President, and if there’s an issue about human rights, since we are all members of the United Nations, you go there and ventilate the issue and maybe ask one of the commissions there, organic bodies, WTO, WHO or the Human Rights Commission to send a Rapporteur which is really an investigator, investigate him. Then make a report back to the body or maybe they start the Security Council and they can have the recommendations. If they want me investigated, fine.

So, I invited them because they are—they seem to be—I don’t know, but they are in a limbo, because I challenged them, and I said, I wrote them a letter, the United States,Obama, the Human Rights, the EU: Come to the Philippines and investigate me. It shall be opened to the public, ask me any question under the sun. They only thing that I ask of you is to afford me the right to be heard. And then, allow me some questions so that I would know that you are not heaping lies on me based on the report of the—I said, it was a political issue.

In Davao, every election. Now, when I run for the President, I said, “It was a non-issue to me until after I was hitting the rating. And so, some people from the State Department, then from the UN started to say and threatening. You know, it’s about time that we change the rules here. Human rights threatening me with the International Court of Justice case, stupid. You know the crime that you are accusing me must be a crime in my own country.

There is no crime at all in our law books, in our criminal books, which says that the President cannot threaten criminals by saying, “Go out of my City because I will kill you.” There is no crime at all of that nature. When I said that, “Do not destroy the children of my country or else I will kill you.” There is no crime in our revised or the original statutes of our criminal system. So that was the reason why, I do not—I gave them the best of my epithets, my slur and curses for acting too stupid, and bringing me into the public international scene, and on my shoulders, the Filipino people, because it would put the Filipinos in shame everywhere when you do that.

And that is why, I’m the guy, if I don’t respect you anymore, be prepared for the worst. Because I can give you gallons of gallons of epithets, curses and—but look at this guy when they are the—when I said, I will epithet—eh, putang-inang yun, ah. The translation of that in our Filipino diction, even to pronounce it and grammar, that thing says, “Son of a bitch,” and the ladies will pronounce it ‘salamagan.’ But we have never used the word ‘son of a whore.’ It is the invention of the press and the people there, out there. Ngayon, people judge best when they condemn. Ganun iyan eh. Especially if they want for condemnation, they are good at it.

Well, I said, I am thankful because I insist that we realign, that there will be no more exercises next year. Do not prepare, I told the Defense Secretary Lorenzana. Do not make preparations for next year’s—I do not want it anymore and I will chart an independent foreign policy. We will not break our alliances, the US-RP. But we need not really, you know, break or abrogate existing treaties because they said that it would provide us with the umbrella.

I ask you frankly: give me your answer from your rank. We will maintain our military alliances because I said, they say that we need it for our defense. Should World War III comes to a fore upon the civilizations, do you think you still have time to discuss Third World War? When all the ICBM’s, when all the Poseidon’s underneath the sea are (makes whistling sound). Where will we be? See you in heaven.

Salamat po. (applause)

Have I gave this to one of the guys? Kung sinong wala nito. From this—Yes, sir, you can have it. Read it and you will find your country almost there, really.

Ladies and gentlemen: I am losing two policemen a day in the fight against criminality. Everyday, I go out of my office to—even how far it is. I’ve been to every place, even if far, and I ordered the Presidential plane, the jet plane to be converted into an air ambulance. I’ll take care of myself. But I need to—the AFP got about 5 billion new equipments in your hospitals. I want to protect you.

I said—the reason why I invited them is they should also look into the records, how many soldiers and policemen were killed in this campaign. If it’s just a matter of extra judicial killing, I would not have lost any single man. All you have to do is just ask them to kneel down and shot them at the back. We’re not doing it. I said, I’m losing on the average two policemen a day. So just that you would be informed about these things. ●