Duterte: Foreign envoys avoid raising rights issues at meetings

MANILA, Philippines — Several international institutions previously called the attention of President Duterte for his bloody crackdown of illegal drugs but he said Sunday that so far no nation has ever raised human rights issues in front of him for fear of starting a “fight.”

“Nobody but nobody — not even the United States ever, ever opened up the human rights in front of me,” Duterte said in his speech before he departed for Myanmar.

Duterte said the statement after saying he and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop never discussed human rights during their recent meeting in Panacan, Davao City.

 “They are so courteous, maybe alam nila because if you say that (human rights issues)… if you utter those things in my presence, you’ll get an insult,” the president said.

Instead of talking about human rights, Duterte said he and Bishop discussed transnational crimes and terrorism. He said Australia probably does not want to “pick a fight.”

He said if a nation raised human rights issues in front of him, he will expose their human rights violations back. He said when it comes to human rights he is on the “right track.”

“Sabihan kita (nation) bakit sa inyo… ikaw wala?” Duterte said referring to human rights violations.

“Do not ever do that because if you can say one bad thing about me I can say five bad things about you, so bakit ka maghanap ng away? Lahat naman tayo, nagkakamali. Pero hindi diyan sa human rights. I am on the right track, I would say,” he said.

RELATED: What some international groups say about the Philippine war on drugs

President Barack Obama was expected to raise the issue of human rights with Duterte at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos in September 206 but the meeting was cancelled. The two leaders only met briefly before a formal dinner at the summit.