MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said he would rather be accused in connection with the drug war killings than of corruption.

Speaking before newly-appointed officials on Monday, the President devoted a chunk of his speech in expressing disgust with corruption, even recounting how he threatened to resign when he found out how rampant it was in the bureaucracy.

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“Do not f*** with me with that,” he said. “Ayaw ko. Gusto ko pag-alis ko dito ni singko centavos wala kayong madukot sa bulsa ko. And that is true until today. Wala akong extra expenses.”

[I don’t want that. What I want is that when I leave this office you can’t find even five centavos in my pocket. And that is true until today. I don’t have extra expenses.]

The President said that he was intent on keeping his supposed corrupt-free stature and leave Malacañang without a whiff of fraudulence.

“Well, OK ’yang extrajudicial killing. Huwag lang ’yung corruption,” he said.

[Well, extrajudicial killings, that’s OK. But just not corruption.]

Duterte’s presidency has been marred with allegations of human rights violations in connection with a brutal drug war he started on assuming office in 2016.

His administration’s anti-narcotics program has resulted in the killing of 6,600 drug suspects. Authorities said most of the suspects were killed for resisting arrest or fighting back.

The President issued the remark after London-based human rights group Amnesty International urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate the Duterte administration’s drug war.

The group also reported that the province of Bulacan had now become the country’s “bloodiest killing field” in recent months following the transfer of some police officials who used to run the dreaded crackdown on illegal drugs in Metro Manila.

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(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)

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