PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday challenged Rep. Gary Alejano to bring his complaint to the International Criminal Court following the allegations of summary killings in Davao City when he was mayor there.
“What do they want? Some guys are being taken for a ride a thousand times over,” Duterte told reporters at the Davao City airport, where he arrived after working visits in Cambodia and China.
“He can go ahead. He’s free to do it,” he said.
Duterte made his statement even as Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the impeachment complaint against Duterte was as “good as dead.”
Alvarez said there was no way the complaint filed by Alejano would prosper.
“The dismissal of the impeachment complaint against the President affirms that it was bereft of any probative value,” Alvarez told reporters.
The House committee on justice led by Rep. Reynaldo Umali dumped the complaint on Monday, with all 42 of the members present voting it was insufficient in substance.
But Alejano said he was considering bringing the case against Duterte before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Duterte said the war on drugs would have collateral damage but he was not the type to order summary killings.
“Ano ba namang giyera sa droga na walang namatay?” Duterte said.
He said he had been investigated many times over the summary killings that had been attributed to his campaign against crime in Davao City when he was mayor there.
“I was investigated by the human rights… I was investigated again when [Leila De Lima] was Justice secretary. I was investigated again by the Senate and I was investigated again by the House,” Duterte said.
