PH still committed to UN: Palace exec
A Palace official yesterday clarified that Philippines remained committed to the United Nation (UN) even after a threat issued by President Rodrigo Duterte over the possible withdrawal of the country from the international organization, which have drawn various feedbacks.
Foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. bared that Philippines, one of the founders of the United Nations, will not leave UN despite the disappointment it caused the government.
"We are committed to the UN despite our numerous frustrations with this international agency," Yasay said in a news conference via video clip from Twitter.
Yasay underscored that Duterte's announcement "is a statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration" over UN's perceived interference to the rising number of drug-related deaths in the country.
Duterte, according to him, never threatened to leave UN as he only expressed his disappointment in the UN rapporteurs' statements.
He added that the President was just tired, disappointed and angry when he issued the statement.
In a near-dawn press conference on Sunday, Duterte conveyed his dismay over the unwarranted intrusion of UN's Human Rights experts over the alleged extrajudicial killings (EKJs).
"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that rude, son of a bitch, then we'll just leave you," Duterte said.
His tirades comes after
Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur raised her concern on summary executions of drug personalities in the country, saying that she will be looking into it and later concluded that these drug-related killings is done by the law enforcers.
The president also invited the international human rights group in a debate to clarify their allegations.
As of Aug. 15, the Philippine National Police (PNP) have recorded a total of 665 drug suspects have been killed in legitimate police operations while the 889 deaths were done by vigilantes, in which they are now currently investigating.
"The President has already made assurance that he will respect human rights and firmly stand against the illegal or criminal killing of people on drug-related offenses," Yasay said.
Breaking the protocol
Yasay accused the two UN rapporteurs for breaking the protocol after they publicly raised their concern over the summary killings in which, the government strongly denied.
He also said that the UN experts are merely basing their comments over unverified media reports and not even validating it themselves. They should have filed formal arrangement for their claims as respect for the President.
Yasay said the rapporteurs are mandated to make proper inquiries and there are protocols to conduct such probes.
He added the UN experts are not following the proper procedure in meddling with the state's affair.
"It is highly irresponsible on their part to solely rely on such allegations based on information from unnamed sources without proper substantiation," Yasay said. JCR (For full story visit www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/)