President Rodrigo Duterte made a controversial statement on September 30, 2016 about killing three million addicts in the Philippines as part of his administration's war on drugs. This statement was said during his arrival after the visit from Vietnam in a press conference.
Duterte somewhat likened himself to Hitler when he said, "If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have...Hitler massacred three million Jews...there's three million addicts. There are...I'd be happy to slaughter them."
This statement immediately reaped adverse reactions from people around the world especially Germans and Jews. "It is impossible to make any comparison to the unique atrocities of the Shoah and Holocaust," said the German foreign ministry's spokesman, Martin Schaefer.
Ronald Lauder, the World Jewish Congress president, said that the remarks of Duterte were "revolting" and demanded that he should retract and apologize. He said further that although drug abuse is a serious issue, what President Duterte said was profoundly inhumane and demonstrates an appalling disrespect for human life that is truly heartbreaking coming from a democratically-elected leader of a great country.
Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, said it was baffling why anyone would want to compare themselves to "one of the largest mass murderers in human history."
"Does he want to be sent to the International Criminal Court? Because he's working his way there?" he added.
The Philippine National Police claimed success as of the meantime, being the lead government agency that executed many raids via the so-called "Oplan Tokhang" (toktok- hangyo), which refers to the police operation of asking drug pushers and users to voluntary surrender themselves. But a number of alleged extra-judicial killings were associated to this tough war on drugs.
President Duterte has allegedly executed several extra-judicial killings during his terms as Davao City mayor. Just recently, a certain Edgar Matobato, self-confessed assassin, accused the President of ordering the killing of suspected criminals in Davao City. He told the Senate that he was recruited to a death squad called the "Lambada Boys" when Duterte started his term.
