Veteran US senator hits Trump for being mum on Duterte's human rights record

MANILA, Philippines — A veteran American senator criticized US President Donald Trump for failing to raise the issue of human rights in his bilateral meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been slammed for alleged human rights violations attending his ferocious campaign against narcotics.

Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, described as "sad" the failure of the American leader to push Duterte on his human rights record.

And human rights obviously not a priority in @POTUS’s meeting with Duterte – again, sad.

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 13, 2017

"And human rights obviously not a priority in @POTUS’s (Trump's Twitter account) meeting with Duterte – again, sad," McCain said, mimicking Trump's way of talking on the social media site Twitter.

The tweet was sent in response to a previous message McCain posted on November 11 in which he also chided Trump for failing to mention human rights during his visit to Vietnam when he attended the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the Southeast Asian country.

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McCain and Trump both belong to the Republican Party, but the veteran US senator has lived up to his maverick image by bucking the American leader's policy pushes such as the move to repeal former US President Barack Obama's health care law and to restrict immigration from several Muslim-majority nations.

Malacañang and the White House issued on Monday conflicting statements on whether human rights were tackled during Trump and Duterte's bilateral meeting.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque insisted that the topic was not raised by Trump during the talks.

When confronted with a statement coming from the White House that such topic was discussed, Roque insisted, "There was no mention of human rights, there was no mention of extralegal killings."

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders however was quoted by the White House press pool as saying, "Human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philippines' fight against illegal drugs."

This position was reinforced by the recent statement by the US and the Philippine released by the White House.

According to the joint statement, the two countries underscored that human rights and the dignity of human life were essential. It added that the two sides agreed to mainstream their human rights agenda in their national programs to promote the welfare of all sectors, including the most vulnerable groups.

READ: Int'l watchdog reacts to Duterte's plan to hold human rights summit

Trump has shown willingness to skirt thorny issues especially human rights in an effort  to achieve more strategic goals such as continuing international pressure on North Korea. He has also expressed his admiration for leaders who have shown strongman tendencies such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Duterte.

The Philippine leader is currently facing stringent criticisms on local and international fronts because of the ferociousness of his drug war.

Critics say that the campaign has already claimed between 7,000 to 12,000 lives, but government offices have disputed this and offered a much lower figure of more than 3,000.

READ: Trump to ‘re-energize’ Philippines-US partnership

Trump is in Manila for the last stage of his five-nation tour of Asia during which the North Korean missile and nuclear programs and regional trade topped the agenda.

The Association of Southeast Asian Summit and its related meetings in the Philippine capital are expected to be dominated by security issues following the recent liberation of Marawi City and by the disputes over the West Philippine Sea.

READ: Duterte to Trump: ‘Lay off’ topic of human rights