The president of the Philippines, who earlier this month admitted to personally shooting and killing three men and using a powerful painkiller in excess of a doctor’s order, said Tuesday he also had dropped a kidnapping suspect from a helicopter – and he would do it again.
Speaking at the Camarines Sur provincial capitol, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the story of his vigilante justice in an effort to show he was serious about anti-corruption measures, The Philippine Star reported.
“If you are corrupt I will fetch you with a helicopter and I will throw you out on the way to Manila,” Duterte said. “I have done that before, why should I not do it again?”
Duterte bolstered the outrageous claim with explicit details.
He said he went after a group of kidnapping suspects who allegedly abused a victim even after receiving their requested ransom. He also recalled telling the helicopter pilot to fly at a specific altitude – so the splatter of the body wouldn’t cause a ruckus on the ground.
An unspecified report had previously alleged Duterte, as Davao mayor, killed a drug dealer by dropping him from a helicopter, The Philippine Star reported.
Duterte said earlier this month that he personally killed three men “to show to the [police] that if I can do it, why can’t you?”
“And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble,” Duterte told the BBC on Dec. 16. “I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”
The admission came just hours after a spokesman denied Duterte had killed anyone.
