PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte apologized to the Jewish community for alluding his anti-drug campaign to Adolf Hitler's genocide.
Duterte, who opened the 37th MassKara Festival at the public plaza Sunday, said "there was never an intention on my part to derogate the memory of six million Jews murdered by the Germans."
"I apologize profoundly and deeply to the Jewish community. (It was) never my intention," the President said.
“My critics were saying that Duterte is like Hitler. He's a killer. So I said, okay fine, I'm Duterte, I'm a killer,” he said.
He continued: “I was criticized for using Hitler, comparing him to me, but I was very empathic that I will kill the three million (drug suspects),” though he admitted it was “a bad taste in the mouth.”
“I don't really want you to think that I stained the memory (of the Jews),” he added.
Last Friday, Duterte said that “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them.”
"If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have [me]. You know, my victims, I would like [them] to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition," he said in his speech in Davao on Friday.
His remark, however, drew negative reactions from the international community.
German foreign ministry spokesperson Martin Schaefer said Duterte's statement was "unacceptable."
But Malacañang on Saturday clarified that the 71-year-old Chief Eecutive was merely addressing the "negative comparison that people made between him and Hitler."
“The President’s reference to the slaughter was an oblique deflection of the way he has been pictured as a mass murderer, a Hitler, a label he rejects,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
“He (Duterte) likewise draws an oblique conclusion that while the Holocaust was an attempt to exterminate the future generations of Jews, the so-called extra-judicial killings, wrongly attributed to him, will nevertheless result in the salvation of the next generation of Filipinos,” he added.
‘Edca no signature’
Duterte, also on Sunday, pointed out in his speech that the Enhanced Cooperation and Defense Agreement (Edca) doesn't have a signature of the President of the Philippines.
"This Edca, it is an official document, (but) it was only signed by an aide," he stressed, adding that it that wasn't signed by his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.
Edca was signed by US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
“Better think twice now because I will be asking you (American troops) to leave the Philippines,” he said.
Under Edca, the United States were allowed to build structures, station troops and vessels, and pre-position weapons within the territory of the Philippines for 10 years. (With Ruth Abbey Gita)