Duterte 'fast becoming a disappointment,' Karapatan warns

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has turned his back on good beginnings with progressive groups and has bowed down to the “dictates of pro-US lackeys,” a human rights group said.

 

Duterte was described by Karapatan, which is affiliated with Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, as “fast becoming a disappointment.”

 

Duterte is to blame for a breakdown in peace negotiations with communist rebels “as he forces a bilateral ceasefire deal while undermining discussions on socioeconomic and political reforms, and is blatantly violating agreements on human rights and international humanitarian law” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general.

 

“Duterte has reneged on his promise to release all political prisoners through a general amnesty” and, she said “has willingly surrendered people’s rights [in favor of] military rule.”

 

Duterte has said in the past that he has already conceded too much to the communists—nominees of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which negotiates with the government in peace talks, sit in the Cabinet. He said he will release all political prisoners once a ceasefire agreement is signed.  

 

Karapatan believes Duterte, who considers himself a leftist and socialist, “is increasingly pandering to the interests not of the Filipino people but to US imperialists and their loyal lapdogs in the top echelons of the military.”

 

Palabay said poor communities suffer from the war on drugs and the government's campaign against the communist insurgency.

 

Karapatan also said Duterte's economic policies are “(a) duplicate of his predecessors’ heavy dependence on foreign aid and investments.”

 

The group said it has documented 68 victims of politically-motivated killings, 842 victims of illegal arrest since the Duterte administration came to power. It also said 42,894 people were subjected to threats, harassment and intimidation. 

 

Meanwhile, 416,005 people have been  displaced since he became president and 357,569 have suffered from indiscriminate gunfire and aerial bombardments, Palabay claimed. 

 

Karapatan, whose allies in the Makabayan bloc are members of the administration-led majority at the House of Representatives, said it will continue campaigning for the immediate withdrawal of policies such as “the anti-poor war on drugs, Oplan Kapayapaan, and martial law which perpetuate violations.”