MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights called on the government to do “what is good and right” and to uphold the rule of law as it carries out its fight against criminality.
In a statement Wednesday, two days after President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address, CHR said it “[decries] the culture of killings and the blatant disregard for the rule of law.”
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“The CHR continues to stress the primacy of the human life, even as we address issues on criminality. We emphasize that the call to respect the rights of the accused does not mean disregarding the crimes committed and its ill effect to victims,” lawyer Jacqueline De Guia, the commission’s spokesperson, said.
In his last SONA, Duterte taunted the International Criminal Court to put on record his threats against the people out to “destroy” the country with illegal drugs.
“I would never deny and the ICC can record it: those who destroy my country, I will kill you. And those who destroy the young people of my country, I will kill you. I will really finish you because I love my country,” the chief executive said.
He added that dealing with those involved in the illegal drug trade the “legal way” will “take you months and years.”
In a report on human rights situation in the Philippines released last year, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the widespread killings, detentions and red-tagging by state actors “suggest that [Duterte’s] public comments may have incited violence and may have had the effect of encouraging, backing, or even ordering human rights violations with impunity.”
De Guia said the CHR remains hopeful that despite such pronouncements “that seem to tolerate a culture of killing and impunity, authorities will still adhere in doing what is good and right, as guided by our laws. ”
The CHR official added that perpetrators should be made accountable for the harms they caused and face the consequence of their crimes.
“This is exactly [why] we have laws—to ensure accountability from perpetrators guided by due process and preserve guaranteed rights to all Filipinos as embodied in our very Constitution,” she said.
The commission said it also recognizes the government’s achievements in upholding the right to education, right to health, and right to effective and efficient public service. — Gaea Katreena Cabico