Philippine president threatens to humiliate news outlets for drug reports

Manila: The Philippine president has unleashed an expletive-laden tirade against the country's leading newspaper and TV network and threatened to publicly humiliate the outfits and their owners, whom he accused of distorting stories about his anti-drug crackdown.

President Rodrigo Duterte's outburst Thursday against the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN TV network in a nationally televised speech prompted a Philippine media watchdog to call him a "petty tyrant, who mistakenly believes public office is an entitlement that allows you to flaunt the laws of the land."

Duterte, who has had a thorny relationship with journalists, complained how his anti-drug campaign has been portrayed as targeting the poor. He also got incensed about news of his alleged corruption, saying he will resign if reports of his undeclared bank deposits were proven.