President Rodrigo Duterte has received reports that the (CIA) Central Intelligence Agency wants him dead.
He made the remarks in his speech before hundreds of Vietnam-based Filipinos on Wednesday night at the Intercontinental Hotel.
“Sabi nila. pa-plano-plano raw ang CIA na patayin ako. Susmaryosep, ginoo,” he said.
In the same speech, Duterte promised to end the Philippines’ joint military exercises with the United States.
Prior to mentioning the alleged threat from the American intelligence agency, the President said he will not abandon the arbitral tribunal’s ruling which favored the Philippines’ claims over the West Philippine Sea.
“There will always be a time to reckon the thing with. When that time comes, sabihin ko sa China, ‘ito ‘yung amin. I will talk to you but I will not go out of the four corners of this paper.’ Pero it is not the time to die,” he said.
Duterte then added that he will not send his soldiers to war and be massacred in a battleground like Palawan.
“Naloko na. Eh kung dalhin natin doon sa San Francisco OK ako. Oo, ‘yung China, mamili kayo diyan. Pero mag-away tayo tapos gawin mong battleground eh paalisin ko kayo, pati ang America, ‘umalis ka diyan,'” The President said.
He then claimed receiving reports that the CIA wants him dead.