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MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday slammed Ottawa over a $233-million chopper deal that did not push through after some Canadian politicians questioned the purchase amid reported human rights violations in the Philippines.
"Tingnan mo how stupid the Canadians are, very stupid. Pumayag sila na mapagbili. Noong ma-deliver na sabi nila, 'Ah but you cannot use these for military or punitive actions by the police. This is only good for evacuation and 'yung mga humanitarian... You cannot use these against your own citizens,'" Duterte said.
(Look at how stupid the Canadians are, very stupid. They agreed to sell the helicopters. But when these were due to be delivered, they said, 'Ah but you cannot use these for military or punitive actions by the police. This is only good for evacuation and humanitarian operations. You cannot use these against your own citizens.')
"My God, you Canadians how stupid can you get? Our citizens are joining the ISIS so we have every right to kill our citizens because we do not want to destroy the community with apathy," he added.
Duterte made the remarks in a speech during the general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.
Ottawa in February signed the deal to sell 16 Bell helicopters to Manila on the understanding that these would be used for search-and-rescue missions, Canada's International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne earlier said.
A Philippine defense department spokesman, however, said its air force would use the aircraft for disaster response and humanitarian missions, but also for "anti-terrorism".
Major-General Restituto Padilla, the military's deputy chief of staff, later said this did not mean they would be used as "attack helicopters".
Canada nonetheless ordered a review of the deal, prompting Duterte to cancel the purchase.
The Bell 412EPI helicopters were due be delivered early next year as the Philippine military prepares to step up operations against Islamist and communist rebels.
Asked whether he was concerned the helicopters might be used against Filipino citizens, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said: "Absolutely."
Canada has very clear regulations about to whom it can sell weapons and how they can be used, he said during a question and answer event at the University of Chicago.
In November, Duterte publicly criticized Trudeau at a regional summit in Manila for raising questions about his war on drugs.
Some 4,000 Filipinos have been killed by police in the campaign since June 2016. Human rights groups accuse police of carrying out illegal killings, staging crime scenes and falsifying reports, a charge they deny.
-- with Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News; Reuters, Agence France-Presse
