MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said it is “unfair” for him to be tagged in the killing of Tanauan City, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili earlier this year.

“Kagaya nung si Mayor Halili ng Tanauan, nag-bayang magiliw, boog! Patay siya, tapos ako ang pagbintangan. Unfair sila sa akin,” Duterte said in a speech before the Filipino community in Papua New Guinea.

(Like Mayor Halili of Tanauan. He was singing the national anthem and then ‘boog!’ He died and then I’m blamed for it. They are unfair to me.)

Duterte also denied having a hand in the killings of local chief executives, saying his “kill” threats are just empty ones.

“Wala akong alam. Ako magsabi man lang ako patayin kita pero, pangtakot man lang yan, istorya man lang yan. Naniwala ka naman? Sino ang nagpatay? O ang pulis o, tanungin mo.”

(I know nothing. I may have said ‘I will kill you,’ but that was just to scare you. It was not true, yet you believed in it? Who killed them? Maybe ask the police.)

Halili, who was shot dead during a flag ceremony at the Tanauan City Hall in July this year, was on the list of high-value drug targets of the police and subjected to "Oplan Tokhang." In 2017, he lost supervision over the police, along with other officials accused of dabbling in the narcotics trade. Halili had denied the allegation.

There has been a growing number of local chief executives, some of whom linked to the drug trade, who have died under the Duterte government.

Critics have accused Duterte of cultivating a culture of impunity and creating an environment where killings have become ordinary occurrences.