As expected, the most recent “hottest” report featuring President Rodrigo Duterte is about yet another one of his controversial statements.
On Tue, Oct 4, Duterte lashed out anew at the United States and the European Union because they continue to criticize his administration’s drug war. We got found the YouTube video uploaded by Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) which covers Duterte’s entire speech, which he delivered during the 3rd Sulong Pilipinas Convention held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.
Duterte’s latest most buzzed about remarks begin right after the 51:14 mark. In particular, the “Mr. Obama, got to hell” statement can be heard after the 52:07 mark.
Aside from calling out the U.S. State Department, Duterte even mentioned U.S. President Barack Obama. This time, though, it didn’t seem to be in the context of a hypothetical conversation. (Or maybe it was and we just missed it. As such, we are waiting for the Presidential Communications Office to issue an explanation for the statement.)
GMA News Online (along with news outlets in the Philippines and all over the world) quoted Duterte as saying, “Instead of helping us, ang unang tumira itong State Department. So, you can go to hell. Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.”
(“Instead of helping us, the first one to criticize us was the State Department. So, you can go to hell. Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.”)
Duterte then addressed the EU, saying, “EU, [you] better choose purgatory. Puno na ang impiyerno. Bakit ako matakot sa inyo?”
(“EU, you better choose purgatory. Hell is full. Why would be afraid of you?”)
Prior to the said remarks, Duterte had lamented, “Nawalan ako ng respeto sa Amerika. Instead of helping us knowing fully well — alam nila kasi they have a similar government as ours — alam nila na iyong bottoms up, bottoms up talaga iyon. Sabi nila, ‘Duterte, why do you have to kill people? Why not go to rehab?’ Easier said than done.”
(“I lost respect for America. Instead of helping us knowing fully well — they know this because they have a similar government as ours — they know that if it’s bottoms up, it’s really bottoms up. They said, ‘Duterte, why do you have to kill people? Why not go to rehab?’ Easier said than done.”)
He added, “Where do you get the money? You get money from all departments pati Education at kay [Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto] Yasay [Jr.]? Kunin ko kay [Transportation Secretary Arthur] Tugade just to build a rehab? It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Alam nila iyan.”
(“Where do you get the money? You get money from all departments like Education and [Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto] Yasay [Jr.]? Do I also get the budget of [Transportation Secretary Arthur] Tugade just to build a rehab? It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul. They know that.”)
