The foul-mouthed Philippines president who’s bragged about throwing criminals out of helicopters and gunning down drug offenders in the streets has a new target: children as young as 9, including his own son.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who has said he will “kill all” the country’s criminals, is among the backers of a bill that would lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9, the Washington Post reported on Sunday evening.
Duterte reportedly said last April he would murder his own son if the boy ever used drugs.
“In my country, there is no law that says I cannot threaten criminals,” Duterte said in October. “I do not care what the human rights guys say. I have a duty to preserve the generation. If it involves human rights, I don’t give a s—. I have to strike fear.”
Other children were in the cross hairs.
Last year, a 4-year-old girl and a 5-year-old girl were killed in separate operations seeking relatives with links to drugs. Duterte has called those deaths “collateral damage.”
A draft version of the bill that would lower the criminal age to 9 states: “Most children above this age, especially in these times when all forms and manner of knowledge are available through the Internet and digital media, are already informed and should be taught that they are responsible for what they say and do.”