‘I will execute you’: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatens suspected drug lord to his face
Duterte has publicly shamed police generals, politicians and private personalities whom he linked to narcotics, and a crackdown has resulted in nearly 400 drug suspects shot dead
President Rodrigo Duterte met with a businessman he accused of being one of the Philippines’ top drug lords and threatened to kill him to his face.
In the bizarre meeting held on Friday that evoked scenes from a gangster film, the hardline anti-crime president warned Peter Lim to steer clear of narcotics.
“I will execute you ... I will finish you off,” Duterte said during the meeting.
I will not say I’m sorry because the reason you’re here is you’re a suspected drug lord
A video of the sit-down was posted on a government YouTube channel on Saturday with a caption identifying Lim as “one of the top drug lords in the triad involved in illegal drug operations in the country”.
But the businessman denied that he was the alleged Chinese-Filipino drug dealer Peter Lim, who was singled out by the president in an address on national television on July 7.
Peter Lim is a fairly common name in the Philippines, where part of the population claims ethnic Chinese descent.
The Peter Lim that Duterte met with said that since the address – in which the president said “the moment he steps out of the plane, he will die” – he has feared for his life.
“My family is really in a deep problem now in Cebu. We are getting all the threats,” Lim said, referring to the central city where he runs a string of businesses.