ASIDE from demanding the release of jailed Senator Leila de Lima, Europeans also suggested that the Duterte administration put up “shabu clinics” similar to the “supervised injection sites” in several countries in Europe but disparagingly called “fix rooms.”
“The EU communicated to us and they want a ‘health-based solution.’ These sons of b*****s, they want us to build clinics. Instead of arresting and putting them in prison just like in other countries, they will inject you or give you shabu if you want it. Then you can leave,” Duterte told a group of Filipino-Chinese businessmen.
“If you want marijuana, there is a place there, government-sponsored. [It’s an] idiotic exercise. If you want cocaine, they will give you cocaine. If you want heroin, they will give you heroin. People just go there and consume every chemical until kingdom come, until they are crazy like the four million [here],” he added.
“I’ll give it a liberal increment of something like 700,000 to 800,000 out of their mind all over the Philippines. Who will answer for this? Who will answer for those who died?” Duterte fumed.
“Who will now answer for those? The EU? The Human Rights Commission? How about the lives of the people killed because of shabu?” he added.
The EU, through Ambassador Franz Jessen, earlier expressed its intention to provide aid to the Philippines particularly in its rehabilitation program for drug surrenderers.
The EU is also currently reviewing whether the Philippines can still qualify for trade incentives that are pre-conditioned on compliance with international agreements but Duterte said that is “the least of his worries.”
“I’m now the President. The least of my worries is the EU. I have to build a nation. That’s why I went to China. I went everywhere, because we are really poor and we have to improve the economy,” he said.
A monitoring team from the EU earlier arrived in the country for an assessment of the country’s trade perks under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), which allows the Philippines to export to the EU without duties or with reduced tariffs.
The Philippines was given preferential status under the European Union-GSP+ in December 2014, allowing the duty-free export of some 6,000 eligible products to the EU market.
Duterte, who won the presidency on a campaign promise that he will rid the country’s drug problems in six months, said drug users are inclined to commit different crimes.