New legislation raises fear of Philippine dictatorship

PHILIPPINE legislators have moved to cut the budget of the nation’s human rights commission and impeach the supreme court chief justice in what critics labelled yesterday part of a slide towards dictatorship under President Rodrigo Duterte.

The twin votes in the house of representatives added to a growing climate of fear that Duterte is determined to silence anyone critical of his war on drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives and led rights groups to warn of a crime against humanity.

Duterte directly drew a link between Tuesday night’s vote to cut the Commission on Human Rights’ annual budget and its investigations of the drug war killings and related criticism by its chairman.

The commission is one of several independent government bodies set up by the constitution to check the power of the executive branch, which controls the country’s police and military forces.

The supreme court is meant to be another safeguard.

Duterte’s allies in the lower house’s justice committee also voted to impeach its chief justice after determining corruption allegations against her had substance.

The chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno, has been another critic of the drug war.

She wrote to Duterte last year expressing concern over him publicly naming seven judges as being involved in the drug trade, warning it made them vulnerable to being killed.

Duterte responded by threatening to declare martial law if Sereno continued to interfere in his drug war.

Should the entire house endorse the justice committee’s findings against Sereno, the senate would convene as an impeachment court.

The senate still has to review and endorse the vote to slash the rights commission’s budget.

The senate is also dominated by Duterte allies, but it has proved more independent than the lower house and it could still overrule the moves against the rights commission and Sereno.

Nevertheless, critics warned of authoritarian rule under Duterte – a self-described socialist who has repeatedly praised late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This leads us on a direct path to dictatorship,” senator Francis Pangilinan, leader of the Liberal Party, the main opposition group, said in response to Tuesday’s vote.

Most Filipinos continue to support the crackdown, according to polls.