MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he was wondering whatever happened to the choppers that Jordan earlier pledged to donate to the Philippines.
Duterte said in jest that he might resume cursing at United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein if Jordan won’t make good on its promise to donate choppers to the Philippines.
“Hanggang ngayon wala pa ‘yung helicopter. Bantay ka, sir. ‘Pag hindi dumating ‘yun, ituloy ko talaga ‘yung mura,” Duterte said in a speech in Pasay.
In his previous speeches, Duterte said he was told by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. not to hurl insults at Zeid as the Philippines was still in talks with Jordan about the choppers.
Zeid, a member of the Jordanian royal family, earned Duterte’s ire after suggesting that the current president seek a psychiatrist. He made this remark as he slammed the Philippine government’s actions against UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Victoria Tauli Corpuz, who is a Filipino.
Malacañang has tagged Zeid as one of the reasons the Philippines withdrew its ratification of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court.
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