MANILA – Opposition Sen. Franklin Drilon urged President Rodrigo Duterte to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in their investigation into the human rights situation in the country.
Drilon said the Duterte administration must keep an open mind and display statesmanship instead of imputing malice on a legitimate action performed by highly respected organizations such as the UNHRC.
“Let’s project statesmanship and maturity as a country. Let’s keep an open mind, not shut doors to international bodies objectively looking into the issue,” Drilon said. “We will rise to the challenge and the challenge is to improve the human rights situation in the country.”
“Let us show strong resolve to promote human rights in the country and put a stop to the killing that we have seen in the past three years due to the country’s antidrug war,” he added.
Drilon said the government has nothing to worry about if everything is above-board, but dismissing the resolution as mere interference or politically motivated will not help the country.
“I do not think that is the proper approach or if it can help salvage the country’s reputation in the international community, so to speak, insofar as the issue of human rights is concerned,” Drilon said.
“We should allow the investigation to take place. The government must cooperate. We cannot simply ignore it, because we are part of it and the government is legally and constitutionally mandated to honor our treaty obligations,” he added.
The UNHRC has adopted a resolution at the 41st regular session of the council in Geneva. Of the 47 member-states, 18 voted in favor of conducting an investigation into the Philippines’ drug war.
Independent experts earlier urged the UNHRC to launch an independent investigation into “a sharp deterioration in human rights across the Philippines” due to a “staggering number” of “violent and unlawful killings of drug suspects.”/PN
