Duterte says Clark luggage theft suspects ought to be ‘killed’

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday berated Clark International Airport officials following a recent incident there of theft that victimized a returning OFW from Canada, and urged them to have the culprits "killed."

"Patayin mo na lang. Kontakin mo na lang 'yung police dun. Marami 'yan diyan," he told Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) Acting President Alexander Cauguiran, who said the suspects have been charged with theft but are currently out on bail.

Also in attendance during the meeting, which took place in Malacañang Park, were victims Jovinal Dela Cruz and Rosemary Verzosa. They said they lost P82,000 worth of items to the theft.

CIAC officials had earlier said six employees of ground handling company MIASCOR Aviation Services were terminated following the incident.

In the middle of Duterte's rant about killing the suspects, his special assistant, Christopher "Bong" Go, cut him off to inform him of the presence of Dela Cruz and Verzosa.

"So I deeply apologize. We will pay whatever your losses," Duterte told the two.

Jovinal arrived on December 23, 2017 while his baggage arrived the following day. However, it was only on January 10 when he was allowed to claim the baggage.

Cauguiran told Duterte that the victims already received payment for their losses, but it only irked the President even more.

"Walang areglo diyan," he said. "'Pag hindi, parusahan ko kayo. Kung hindi ninyo gawin, ako ang papatay diyan. Isa-salvage."

"Ang Pilipino hindi matuto ‘pag hindi mo ginanun. Or they continue to do it unless you put a stop to it," he said.

Duterte — whose war on drugs has been blamed for thousands of drug-related killings and whom critics accused of committing gross human rights violations even during his time as Davao City mayor — said the government should make a public apology over the incident.

"So I would also demand that the airport authorities should call the complainant and make amends, maybe in public, to apologize for the sloppy job that we are doing," he said.

"I want government, whoever is the spokesman, I don’t care anybody who’d be here connected with the – to make a public apology and kung sino ‘yung nandiyan in-charge, kayo mag-raise ng amount," Duterte added. 

Duterte said that he also wants the contract of MIASCOR terminated.

"I would demand that there will be justice instantly. Kung sino ‘yung provider, service provider diyan, you terminate the contract and look for another one. And so for the other airports in the country, I do not want it repeated ever again," he said.

The meeting took place before Duterte attended the launch of the Overseas Filipino Bank, where he mentioned that he warned airport officials in front of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade that they will be fired if a similar incident happens again.

Malacañang released the transcript of the meeting on Friday. —KBK, GMA News