President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines is under scrutiny again after claiming he had personally killed crime suspects when he was a city mayor, to set an example to police.<br /><br /> His comments came at a dinner for business people on Monday.<br /><br /> Thousands have been killed in a crackdown on drugs in the country.<br /><br /> “In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys that, if I can do it why can’t you? And I go around Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble also,” Duterte said in English, before adding in the Tagalog language: “I was really looking for an encounter so I can kill.”<br /><br /> Afterwards a government minister described Duterte’s claims as “hyperbole”, saying he often exaggerated. <br /><br /> The government says the UN won’t be allowed to investigate claims of extrajudicial killings unless its envoy debates with the president.<br />
