Palace slams 'biased' rapporteurs' critique of drug war

MANILA, Philippines — The presidential palace on Friday slammed United Nations human rights officials for their criticisms of the government's ferocious campaign against illegal drugs, saying that the Philippines would not allow itself to be bullied by experts "concocting falsehoods."

UN special rapporteurs on Thursday issued a stinging statement urging on the Philippine government to end drug-related deaths spawned by President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs and bring the perpetrators of the killings to justice.

One of those who issued the joint statement was Agnest Callamard, the body's rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, who had been threatened by the foul-mouthed Duterte with bodily harm should they cross paths with each other. Joining Callamard were Michel Forst (special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders) and Diego García-Sayán (special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers).

The rapporteurs claimed that many of the killings appeared to have been committed by state agents, an indication of a climate of official and institutional impunity.

However, the comments clearly did not sit well with the government of the tough-talking Duterte who in the past took criticisms of his policy as personal affronts and lashed at critics with invectives and tirades.

Harry Roque, a spokesman for Duterte's office, decried the UN officials for making "negative assumptions" on the Philippines despite Manila's supposed explanations to the contrary.

"Even as we continue to respect the UN Special Procedures mechanism," Roque said, "we will not allow these biased individuals parading themselves as human rights experts to abuse such mechanism to bully States by concocting falsehoods."

Roque, a lawyer and Duterte's concurrent adviser on human rights, reiterated the government's refrain that it was not tolerating extralegal and vigilante-style killings as well as rights abuses.

He claimed that this resolve was demonstrated when the entire city police force of Caloocan, a city north of Manila, was relieved from their posts following allegations that some of them killed teenagers suspected of involvement in crime and drugs.

"We believe that accountability is an indispensable part of good governance," Roque said, adding that Duterte had always emphasized the importance of following rule of law and respecting human rights.

On Thursday, Roque told Callamard not to come uninvited to the Philippines after she came to the country in May to attend a two-day drug policy forum at the University of the Philippines where she delivered the keynote address.

READ: Palace warns Callamard: Don't come uninvited

Though Callamard was not invited by the Philippine government, her visit in May was because of the invitation of a lawyers' group for the event and was not on her capacity as a UN official.

Aside from threatening to slap Callamard, the tough-talking leader also challenged the rapporteur to a debate as a condition for allowing her visit to the Philippines. The UN official declined, reasoning that this was not in the world body's terms of reference for such visits.