There are many tales about President Rodrigo Duterte, known locally as “The Punisher,” allegedly killing criminals and drug pushers.
The most famous story is one in which he claimed to have once thrown a drug pusher out of a helicopter in Davao.
But according to another — yet unheard — story he shared with Filipinos in Vietnam today, he once stabbed a boy in a street fight when he was 16.
Duterte is visiting Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit happening on Friday and Saturday.
As he usually does when he speaks to Filipinos abroad, he talked about his hatred of drugs in the Philippines.
“Son of a bitch, if you do that to the Philippines [get them hooked on drugs], I’ll get you. Jail? Oh, please. When I was a teenager, I used to come in and out of jail,” he said in Filipino.
“[I’d get in a] rumble here and there — then at the age of 16, I already killed someone, a person. We fought and I stabbed him. I was 16 then. [I fought him] just for staring at me. Eh, how much more now that I’m president? You fuck with my countrymen, I’m not going to let it slide. Human rights? Forget it,” he GMA News quoted him as saying.
The audience laughed, but Duterte looked serious when he was telling the story.
Then again, he did say this about how to interpret his public statements last February: “For every five statements I make, only two are true, while three are just jokes.”
So is this tale one of the two true statements? Or should we file it under the three jokes?
Tell us what you think.
