The Boston Globe - 19.09.2019

A6 TheWorld The Boston Globe THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

By Jason Gutierrez

NEW YORK TIMES

MANILA — President Rodri-

go Duterte of the Philippines

appeared to admit in a speech

this week that he had ordered

an assassination attempt on a

politician last year, a startling

statement even for a president

known for bloody, provocative

rhetoric.

His spokesman said

Wednesday that Duterte had

misspoken.

In a speech Tuesday night at

the presidential palace in Ma-

nila, Duterte railed against

drug-related corruption in Phil-

ippine politics. He mentioned

two mayors who were killed by

the police after he accused

them of drug crimes: Rolando

Espinosa, who was gunned

down in his jail cell in 2016,

and Reynaldo Parojinog, who

died in a raid on his home in

2017.

Then he mentioned Vicente

Loot, a mayor and former gen-

eral who survived an attack by

gunmen in the central Philip-

pines in May 2018.

“Gen. Loot, you son of a

bitch,” he said. “I ambushed

you, you animal, and you still

survived.”

A presidential spokesman,

Salvador Panelo, said Wednes-

day that Duterte had meant to

say “You were ambushed,” not

“I ambushed you.” Duterte, he

noted, is not a native speaker of

the Filipino language but of

Visayan, which is spoken main-

ly in the southern and central

Philippines.

“It is silly and absurd to con-

clude that he is behind the am-

bush just because he misspeaks

the Filipino language, which is

not his native tongue or first

language,” Panelo said.

Duterte ran for president

promising a bloody campaign

to kill drug dealers, and thou-

sands of people — many but not

all of them suspected dealers or

addicts — have been gunned

down by police officers or vigi-

lantes since he took office in

2016.

Loot, Espinosa, and

Parojinog were on a list of more

than 100 politicians that Du-

terte read on live television

soon after taking office, accus-

ing them of being involved in

drug trafficking.

In December, Duterte de-

nied being involved in the at-

tack on Loot, which left three of

his aides and a dock worker

wounded. Loot, who was un-

hurt in the attack, has denied

involvement in drug trafficking.

In July, the United Nations’

Human Rights Council voted to

begin a process that could lead

to an investigation of the kill-

ings carried out during Du-

terte’s tenure. Filipinos have

filed two complaints at the In-

ternational Criminal Court in

The Hague accusing Duterte of

murder; one was filed by two

men who say they were part of

a “hit squad” he commanded as

mayor of Davao, a city in the

south.

A lawyer for those men, Jude

Sabio, said Wednesday that Du-

terte’s statement about Loot

could be used against him in

court.

“As a lawyer and a former

prosecutor, he knows that ad-

mission is the queen of evi-

dence,” Sabio said.

By Jill Lawless
and Samuel Petrequin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STRASBOURG, France —
British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson was accused by Euro-
pean Union officials Wednes-
day of failing to negotiate seri-
ously and branded the ‘‘father
of lies’’ by a lawyer in the UK
Supreme Court, as his plan to
leave the EU in just over six
weeks faced hurdles on both
sides of the Channel.

InStrasbourg,France,the
European Parliament said it
would be the fault of Britain,
not the bloc, if the UK crashed
out of the EU without a divorce
deal on the scheduled Oct. 31
departure day.
In London, Johnson’s gov-
ernment battled to convince the
UK’s top court that the prime
minister’s decision to suspend
Parliament for five weeks with
Brexit looming was neither ille-
gal nor improper. The govern-
ment’s opponents claim John-
son illegally shut down the leg-
islature to prevent lawmakers
from scrutinizing his plans.
Government lawyer James
Eadie told 11 Supreme Court
justices that the decision to
send lawmakers home until
Oct. 14 was ‘‘inherently and
fundamentally political in na-
ture,’’ and not a matter for the
judiciary. He said that if the
court intervened it would vio-
late the ‘‘fundamental constitu-
tional principle’’ of the separa-
tion of powers.
But a lawyer for lawmakers
challenging the shutdown ac-
cused the government of being
‘‘unworthy of our trust.’’
‘‘We’ve got here the mother
of parliaments being shut down
by the father of lies,’’ said attor-

ney Aidan O’Neill. He urged the

judges to ‘‘stand up for truth,

stand up for reason, stand up

for diversity, stand up for Par-

liament, stand up for democra-

cy.’’

The judges, for their part,

wondered why Johnson had re-

fused to provide a sworn state-

ment to the court about his rea-

sons for the suspension.

‘‘Isn’t it odd that nobody has

signed a witness statement to

say: ‘This is true. These are the

true reasons for what was

done’?’’ said one of the judges,

Nicholas Wilson.

The developments were the

latest in a rocky week for John-

son, who pulled out of a news

conference with the prime min-

ister of Luxembourg on Mon-

day because of noisy protesters

nearby. On Wednesday he was

berated by the father of a sick

child over funding cuts to Brit-

ain’s health service as he visited

a London hospital.

Johnson took power in July

with a vow that Britain will

leave the EU on Oct. 31 ‘‘come

what may.’’ He promised to

break a stalemate that saw the

Brexit agreement struck be-

tween the EU and Johnson’s

predecessor Theresa May re-

jected three times by Britain’s

Parliament, prompting May to

resign.

Many lawmakers believe a

no-deal Brexit would be eco-

nomically devastating and so-

cially destabilizing, and have

put obstacles in Johnson’s path,

including legal challenges to

the Parliament shutdown.

Last week, Scotland’s high-

est civil court ruled the move il-

legal, saying it had the inten-

tion of stymieing Parliament.

The High Court in London,

however, said it was not a mat-

ter for the courts.

The Supreme Court is being

asked to decide who is right in a

three-day hearing that ends

Thursday. If it overturns the

suspension, lawmakers could

be called back to Parliament as

early as next week.

Johnson insists he is work-

ing hard to get an agreement

with the EU that will ensure a

smooth departure. EU leaders

are skeptical of that claim.

European Commission Pres-

ident Jean-Claude Juncker said

Wednesday that the risk of a no-

deal Brexit remained ‘‘very

real’’ because Britain still had

not produced workable new

proposals.

‘‘I asked the British prime

minister to specify the alterna-

tive arrangements that he could

envisage,’’ Juncker said. ‘‘As

long as such proposals are not

made, I cannot tell you — while

looking you straight in the eye

— that progress is being made.’’

Juncker, who met with

Johnson on Monday, told a

gathering of the European Par-

liament that a no-deal Brexit

‘‘might be the choice of the

U.K., but it will never be ours.’’

The main sticking point over

a deal is the Irish border ‘‘back-

stop,’’ an insurance policy that

would require Britain to respect

EU trade and customs rules in

order to avoid a hard border be-

tween EU member Ireland and

the UK’s Northern Ireland until

a better solution is found.

Pro-Brexit British politicians

oppose the backstop because it

would prevent the UK from

striking new trade deals around

the world. Johnson says he

won’t back any Brexit deal un-

less the backstop is removed.

Spokesman walks back

Duterte statement that

he ordered a hit killing

‘Itissillyand

absurdtoconclude

thatheisbehind

theambushjust

becausehe

misspeaksthe

Filipinolanguage.’

SALVADOR PANELO

Johnson faces more flak over Brexit

AssailedbyEU;

called‘fatherof

lies’inUKcourt

TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Brexit supporters demonstrated outside the UK Supreme Court in London on Wednesday.

ºUKHouseSpeakerJohn
Bercowtakesthehighroadin
interviewwiththeGlobe.B1.

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