Philippines’ president appears to admit he ordered a politician killed

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte appeared to admit in a speech this week that he had ordered an assassination attempt on a politician last year, a startling statement even for a president known for bloody, provocative rhetoric.

His spokesman said Wednesday that Duterte had misspoken.

In a speech Tuesday night at the presidential palace in Manila, Duterte railed against drug-related corruption in Philippine politics. He mentioned two mayors who were killed by the police after he accused them of drug crimes: Rolando Espinosa, who was gunned down in his jail cell in 2016, and Reynaldo Parojinog, who died in a raid on his home in 2017.

Then he mentioned Vicente Loot, a mayor and former general who survived an attack by gunmen in the central Philippines in May 2018.

“Gen. Loot, you son of a bitch,” he said. “I ambushed you, you animal, and you still survived.”

A presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said Wednesday that Duterte had meant to say “You were ambushed,” not “I ambushed you.” Duterte, he noted, is not a native speaker of the Filipino language but of Visayan, which is spoken mainly in the southern and central Philippines.

Duterte ran for president promising a bloody campaign to kill drug dealers, and thousands of people — many but not all of them suspected dealers or addicts — have been gunned down by police officers or vigilantes since he took office in 2016.

In December, Duterte denied being involved in the attack on Loot, which left three of his aides and a dock worker wounded. Loot, who was unhurt in the attack, has denied involvement in drug trafficking.