Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened the corrupt government officials that he might throw them out of a helicopter mid-air as he has already done it himself before and warned the officials that he had no qualms about doing it again.
"If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out. I have done this before, why would I not do it again?" Duterte said during a speech to victims of a typhoon on Tuesday.
The 71-year-old leader said he once hurled a Chinese man out of a helicopter as he was suspected of rape and murder. However, it is not immediately clear when or where the helicopter incident Duterte spoke of took place.
This latest threat comes just a few weeks after Duterte admitted that he killed people during his 22 years as a mayor of Davao City.
"In Davao, I used to do it personally. Just to show the guys that, if I can do it, why can't you?" Duterte told a gathering of business executives at the Wallace Business Forum in Manila.
"And (I'd) go around Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble also. I was really looking for an encounter so I could kill," he added.
Duterte claimed that those killings were part of legitimate police operations, including a hostage incident. Some senators have also warned him that he risks impeachment over his comments.
He also added that the six people, who were arrested last week during a seizure of more than half a tonne of methamphetamine, known locally as "shabu", in Manila were fortunate enough as he was out of town.
"They were lucky I was not in Manila that time. If I had known there were that much shabu inside a house, I would definitely kill you," he said. Duterte added: "Let's not make any drama, I will personally gun you down if nobody else will do it."
When asked about the "helicopter" comment, Duterte's spokesman, Ernesto Abella, suggested it may not have actually happened. "Let's just say, 'urban legend'," Abella told Reuters without giving any further details.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' top human rights envoy has already called for an investigation into the Philippine President's claims of killing people. In response to that, Duterte last week called him "stupid", an "idiot"and a "son of a b****" who should go back to school.
