UN seeks probe into Duterte's killing claim

The Philippines said yesterday that President Rodrigo Duterte's killing of three people in the 1980s was part of a police operation, after the United Nations rights chief urged Manila to investigate him for murder.

In several speeches last week, Duterte recounted how in 1988, early in the first of his several terms as mayor of the southern city of Davao, he and local police ambushed and killed three suspected kidnappers.

UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement Tuesday that Duterte's killings, by his own admission, "clearly constitute murder" and Philippine judicial authorities must launch a murder investigation.

Duterte spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday Zeid's comments were nothing more than "his (Zeid's) opinion".

"Again, let me just remind one and all, that the incident referred to by the president was actually covered by media and it was (a) legitimate police action," Abella added.

He did not address Duterte's possession and discharge of a firearm while not a policeman.

Duterte has said he routinely carried a gun during his early years as mayor of Davao to protect himself in a high-crime environment. He has not said if the weapon used in the ambush was licensed.

He won the presidential election by a landslide in May largely on a vow to kill 100,000 criminals to stop the country's slide into a "narco-state".

According to the UN, nearly 6,100 people have been killed since Duterte took office in late June.

Philippine police put the figure at about 5,300 violent deaths, with Duterte consistently rejecting allegations his incendiary comments could be encouraging police to commit murder.