The President of the Philippines just bragged about "personally" killing people

Impact

During a business forum in Manila on Monday, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte bragged about killing people while he was mayor of Davao City, CNN reported. "In Davao, I used to do it personally. Just to show the guys that, if I can do it, why can't you," he said.

Duterte also bragged about riding around the city in search of people to kill — "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," he said. "I was really looking for an encounter so I could kill."

Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Duterte had previously been accused of ordering hitmen to carry out extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers while he was mayor of Davao — allegations that his office dismissed, even though, at that point, Duterte had already admitted to being part of a "death squad" in Davao.

Since he was elected President in June, Duterte, who has compared himself to Hitler, has carried out a "war on drugs" that has led to the deaths of at least 5,927 people — many of whom were executed in what CNN calls "vigilante-style" killings, with no judicial process.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reportedly spoke with Duterte on the phone earlier this month — allegedly extending him an invitation to the White House.