Palace raps UN rapporteur
Malacañang yesterday scored UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard, saying it was “disappointed” that while a high level delegation was to present the country’s case before a United Nations rights body in Geneva, she arrived in the country unannounced, in violation of protocols.
“We are aware that Dr. Callamard is currently in the Philippines and we are disappointed that, in not contacting our government in advance of this visit, she has sent a clear signal that she is not interested in getting an objective perspective on the issues that are the focus of her responsibility,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday.
He said Callamard’s arrival was “in a manner that circumvents all recognized United Nations protocols for such visits.”
Callamard, however, said her visit was unofficial.
On Thursday, the Palace said it was sending a team to Geneva composed of deputy executive secretary for legal affairs Menardo Guevarra, Sen. Alan Cayetano and the secretariat of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Undersecretary Severo Catura, to present a report on the human rights situation in the country before the UN High Commission on Human Rights on May 8.
The submission is timed with the third cycle of the UN body’s Universal Periodic
Review.
“Our position is very clear – if Dr. Callamard is committed to ensuring due process to our government and a truly objective assessment of our record on an issue of tremendous importance to our nation, she should be in Geneva meeting with our representatives,” Abella said.
He noted the government officially invited Callamard to visit the Philippines last year, a move indicating the administration’s acknowledgment of her being a professional.
He added the Palace “very much wanted her to see the situation on the ground firsthand and engage in an exchange of views with officials in our government to understand our position on the issue of human rights and the progress being made in the Philippines.”
“Her actions since then, and the circumstances surrounding her current visit, have made it clear that Dr. Callamard is not approaching her assignment professionally or objectively,” Abella said.
He revealed “this is a matter we have asked our representatives at the United Nations to take up with their United Nations counterparts and it is something our delegation in Geneva will certainly be raising during their current visit.”
In September last year, the Office of the President sent a letter to Callamard congratulating her on her appointment as UN special rapporteur. It was in the same letter where the Palace invited Callamard to visit the country.
But prior to the invitation, President Duterte had badmouthed Callamard and the UN rights body supposedly for meddling in the internal affairs of the country.
The President had also cursed former secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
Snubbed invite
Abella said an official visit would have allowed Callamard to closely observe efforts of law enforcement and other agencies to address the drug problem – in accordance with law.
“Our hope at that time was that Dr. Callamard would accept this invitation as part of a commitment to carry out her new responsibilities in a manner that was objective and fair to all perspectives on this important issue,” he said.
“The fact that Dr. Callamard did not respond to our invitation showed that she would not be approaching her review of allegations concerning our country objectively or comprehensively,” Abella added.
“Our commitment to carrying out the President’s social justice agenda remains as strong as our commitment to ensuring that our nation is freed from the damage done daily to millions of our people by the proliferation of illegal drugs throughout our country,” he pointed out.
“The goals associated with these commitments are complementary and the efforts to achieve them are being carried out in a manner that respects our laws,” he said.
For presidential chief legal adviser Salvador Panelo, Callamard’s objectivity was questionable as she could be easily swayed by “hearsay” in her assessment of the drug situation in the country.
“First, how did she know that that’s the way the drug operations are done here in the Philippines? What’s the basis? That’s one,” Panelo said
“How can she make that kind of conclusion when she only read the reports of some people, and she only saw some videos?
“She has to make an independent probe or investigation of what is happening in this country, that is precisely why the President invited her to come over but she never responded,” he added. “That makes it worse,” he said.
“What the President just wanted to say after the investigation is ‘tell us, what is the basis of your investigation?’ What’s wrong with asking someone who made an investigation, this is our conclusion, and the President, asking how did you arrive at that conclusion?
“I don’t think that is unfair,” he said, referring to the President’s position. “That’s a fair response. So she cannot just come here and read newspaper reports, and hear the talks of some critics, watch some videos and then make a conclusion that there is something very wrong with the way this government is doing its job,” he pointed out.
“What I am questioning is the basis of her conclusion which is based on hearsay and some reports coming from wherever. It’s not an independent study,” he said.
“It’s not an objective study. It’s just a conclusion on the basis of the things that she heard,” Panelo maintained.
Motive suspect
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), for its part, also questioned the motive and sincerity of Callamard in the light of her “unofficial” visit to the Philippines.
DFA spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the Philippine team in Geneva had requested for a meeting with Callamard on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva.
“However, she chose to travel to the Philippines at exactly the same time as our UPR is ongoing, thus preventing the possibility of this meeting between her and (government representatives) from taking place, which also make questionable her motives and sincerity in engaging the Philippine government in meaningful dialogue,” Bolivar said.
“It’s unfortunate that the Philippine delegation to the UPR, which is now in Geneva, will not be able to meet her,” he said.
Bolivar, however, refused to comment when asked whether the Philippines would raise Callamard’s unofficial travel to the Philippines before the UN.
In Davao City, President Duterte said he takes responsibility for all the killings but only those carried out in accordance with his order.
Critics have been accusing the President of being behind the more than 10,000 extrajudicial killings that have taken place in the country.
“So I take full responsibility for the killings of the soldiers and the policemen. I take full responsibility, if it says 10,000, then that’s mine and mine alone,” the President said in remarks before the Philippine Association of Orthopedic Surgeons’ midyear conference on Thursday at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang Premier.
“But for all the killings that were in accordance with my order and something was done excessively wrong, something went very wrong, I will answer for it,” he said.
“Do not worry. I will answer for it. And if I go to hell I will do it. If I will rot in jail, I will be happy to do so, at least I have done something for my country,” the President added.
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