Helicopter row: President calls Canadian gov’t ‘very stupid’

President Rodrigo Duterte is still sore at Canada for refusing to sell helicopters to the Philippines if these would be used for combat operations against Filipinos.

In a speech on Tuesday evening, Mr. Duterte said Canadians were “very stupid” for making such a stipulation on the planned $233-million purchase of Bell helicopters, especially when the Philippines was trying to keep Islamic State (IS) sympathizers at bay.

Mr. Duterte said Canada agreed to sell the helicopters but told the Philippines that it could not use these “against your own citizens.”

“My God, you Canadians, how stupid can you get? Our citizens are joining the [IS], so we have every right to kill our citizens because we do not want to destroy the community with apathy,” he said.

“And these idiots said, ‘you cannot use it against your citizens.’ Because you are not encountering the same problem there,” he said.

The Philippines was being treated like “garbage,” Mr. Duterte said.

“The entire community of the world should know that there is a Republic of the Philippines which you cannot just fucking shit. Do not do it to us because I will insult you. Anyway who are you?” he said. —Leila B. Salaverria