Philippines President liken himself to Hitler

President Rodrigo Duterte has been fighting a war against drug users and sellers in the country. He has been largely criticized by several international organizations and he does not seem to care for other’s opinion.

In a speech Friday in his hometown of Davao City, Duterte said, "Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now there is 3 million, what is it, 3 million drug addicts (in the Philippines), there are.

"I'd be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me). You know my victims, I would like (them) to be all criminals, to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition."

The spokesman for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sought to clarify the leader's controversial comparison of his war against suspected drug offenders to Adolf Hitler's extermination of Jews during World War II.

"The President recognizes the deep significance of the Jewish experience especially their tragic and painful history," presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said a statement. "We do not wish to diminish the profound loss of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust -- that deep midnight of their story as a people."

Abella said Duterte's opponents first brought up the Hitler reference before the May presidential election to "gain political mileage."

"The President's reference to the slaughter was an oblique deflection of the way he has been pictured as a mass murderer."

The statement said Duterte likewise drew an "oblique conclusion that while the Holocaust was an attempt to exterminate the future generation of Jews, drug-related killings as a result of legitimate police operations ... will nevertheless result in the salvation of the next generation of Filipinos."

Abella said the Presidential Palace "deplores the Hitler allusion of President Duterte's anti-drug war as another crude attempt to vilify the President in the eyes of the world."

Source: CNN