Philippine leader Duterte: Impeach me and go to jail

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Threatening opposition members, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said that those talking about his impeachment will go to jail.

“I will have all of them arrested. Just let them try. Try to take it, I mean to do it, and I will do it,” daily Manila Bulletin reported on Friday quoting Duterte.

Duterte is under growing criticism for downplaying an incident earlier this month where a Chinese boat hit a Filipino fishing vessels in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the disputed waters of South China Sea. The Chinese crew also abandoned 22 Filipino fishermen at sea who were later rescued by a Vietnamese boat.

“[I am] not afraid of an impeachment complaint,” said Duterte, who is known for his fiery speeches.

The Philippine president said that he had an agreement with China which allows it to fish in the EEZ.

Playing down the boat incident, Duterte said that most of his security aides agreed that the vessel was just “sideswiped before it sank”, daily Manila Standard reported.

“You know, the collision of those two boats, that is a mere maritime accident or incident. You do not react violently [to that],” Duterte told members of the Presidential Security Group.

“As a matter of fact, almost all of us [in the administration]… we have agreed that [the Filipinos' boat] was sideswiped. It wasn’t rammed [on purpose]. If it had been rammed, it would have sunk to the bottom [of the sea],” he added.

Duterte who took office in 2016 has remained a controversial yet popular figure in the island nation.

He has led an all-out campaign against drug trafficking allowing police to shoot suspects on sight drawing the ire of rights activists.