But he’s firm on one thing: he’s not corrupt.
That’s according to a speech Duterte made to government officials at the Philippine presidential palace on Thursday, just a day after Antonio Trillanes, his primary critic, was arrested on his orders for his part in a failed coup in 2003.
"What are my sins? Did I steal money? Even just one peso?...My only sin is extrajudicial killings,” said Duterte.
Duterte’s seemingly cavalier admission of his role in Philippines extrajudicial killings--that is, the murder of an estimated 12,000 people allegedly involved in the drug trade--stirred media reports and ire. The President is the subject of an inquiry by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his role in these murders.
"This admission should erase any doubt about the culpability of the President," said Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams.
In an interview with a Philippine radio station, presidential spokesman Henry Roque did damage control, saying that Duterte’s apparent admission of his part in the extrajudicial killings was just a joke.
"You know the president. He wasn't serious," Roque said Friday.
"That's the president being himself, being playful, highlighting the point that he isn't corrupt."
Meanwhile, Trillanes, the opposition senator arrested last week, has alleged on numerous times that Duterte is in fact corrupt, and in 2016 filed a plunder complaint saying the president used his position as the mayor of Davao City to steal millions from public coffers.
