In his hometown, Duterte gives anti-drug lecture to kids

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – His speech, as usual, was lengthy and peppered with jokes, but on Friday night, October 27, the tough-talking President had to watch his mouth. He was speaking before parents who were with their children.

“You know why I always appear angry on TV? It’s because of the bad people. I don’t want them here in this world. I want them to disappear so there’ll be no one who will bother you,” President Rodrigo Duterte told the crowd.

His audience was largely comprised of parents and children of the Center for Brighter Beginnings, a school offering early childhood program for children up to 5th grade in Davao City. Duterte was invited to keynote CBB’s 25th anniversary.

He was careful not to blurt out his usual expletives but eventually ended spilling some, when he later addressed the parents.

During the same speech, Duterte asked his assistant to take out a document, which he said came from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an indepedent and quasi-judicial body that monitors governments’ compiance with international drug control treaties.

“This is good for the children,” he said.

And so he showed the document, an INCB annual report on precursors and chemicals frequently used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Duterte mentioned several illegal substances in the country –  cannabis, cocaine, ecstacy, heroin, LSD, and methamphetamine – and explained how they pose risks to one’s health.

For instance, he said, cannabis “contains 50% tar, more than the high-tar cigarettes, putting users at an increased risk of lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.”

“And it destroys the brain of the young and adult, and the immediate effect is it shrinks the brain,” he said, referring to another illegal drug, methamphetamine or shabu.

“Kaya ang tanong ko dito sa kanila is (So my question of them is), by what right – by what universal right – do you have to destroy our children?” he asked.

“Killing you is a sin. But producing zombies in my country and citizens no loger in their right minds and you have destroyed them, parang patay na rin (they’re good as dead), what right do you have?” the President added.

Duterte said he would be giving every school a copy of the documents he showed to the public that night. He later told the audience that in case his war on drugs would later send him to hell, he would continue fighting against his enemies there.

“Tapusin namin ‘yung away namin for eternity, without end (We’ll finish our quarrel in eternity, without end),” he said.  – Rappler.com