MANILA, Philippines—“We felt that we were on Cloud 9,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in reporting the applause accorded the Philippine human rights presentation at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday in Geneva.

“It was very encouraging. I didn’t expect it. Pambihira (Unusual). I was told that presenters are not usually accorded that privilege,” Ermita told the Inquirer on Saturday in a long-distance phone call. “They all praised our report.”

But in a statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said he “nearly fell” off his seat after hearing Ermita deliver a report that he described as a self-serving, selective and “totally one-sided depiction” of the human rights situation back home.

Casiño, who is taking part in the UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review as an observer, said that after Ermita read out the report, 16 member-countries expressed concern over the rights situation in the Philippines.

Earlier, a report e-mailed to Malacañang by Undersecretary Edwin Enrile, a member of the high-ranking delegation led by Ermita, described the Philippine human rights presentation as “quite successful,” as gauged from the applause.

Enrile said the Philippines was “praised by most [of the 47] UPR member-countries for having given a comprehensive and candid picture of the human rights situation in the country.”

Flabbergasted

As a whole, the report was designed to portray the Arroyo administration as a “vanguard defender” of human rights and good governance in the country, Casiño said.

“I was particularly flabbergasted to hear Secretary Ermita boast of the government’s superlative gains in fighting graft and corruption in the Philippines,” he said.

First-ever review

The UNHRC is meeting for the first-ever Universal Periodic Review, a mechanism devised by the council based on objective and reliable information to monitor the 192 UN member-states’ fulfillment of their human rights obligations and commitments.

The Philippines is among the 15 countries undergoing the review in the first two-week session.

Ermita’s 18-minute “opening presentation” followed by reports from other Philippine officials before an audience of about 300 composed of representatives of UNHRC member-countries, observers and participants was followed by a question-and-answer portion in which 44 countries had a chance to ask questions. The whole process took three hours.

Ermita said officials from the 11 Philippine agencies who flew with him to Geneva from Manila last Wednesday “helped” him “answer questions ranging from extrajudicial killings, protection of children and women, role of indigenous peoples and our migrant workers.”

He said the issue of human rights was “a wide-ranging subject.”

On the killings, Ermita said questions were asked on the Philippine government’s progress in following the recommendations by the Melo Commission and UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston.

The UNHRC member-countries were also curious about the writs of amparo and habeas data issued by the Supreme Court.

“They wanted to know how fast and what measures we have undertaken to stop extrajudicial killings,” Ermita said.

He said the council members were “very appreciative of our report that since November 2007, there has been an 83-percent drop in the killings.”

Achievements

Enrile said that in its presentation, the Philippine delegation highlighted the country’s achievements in human rights and the reforms and measures it continued to pursue.

He said it also acknowledged the challenges that the Philippines was facing, including the extrajudicial killings that had been largely blamed on the military—an accusation denied by both the Armed Forces and Malacañang.

“And we welcomed the recommendations and all forms of cooperation from the international community,” Enrile said.

Ermita said that while “critical questions” were asked, “more than 90 percent of the [UNHRC] members said they are very appreciative of our report, and the fact that the Philippine government has welcomed Alston and given enough cooperation in the conduct of investigations.”

“They appreciated the forthrightness of the Philippines in discussing other human rights issues, not only on extrajudicial killings,” he said, adding that the council was “very happy to know our advances in the anticorruption drive.”

They were also “impressed” that the Philippines had an independent Ombudsman and a Commission on Human Rights, Ermita said.

Grilling

But in a statement, human rights lawyer Edre Olalia said delegates from 17 countries grilled Ermita on the extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of militant activists, rights of women, children, migrants and indigenous peoples, corruption, and the Philippine government’s failure to ratify instruments against torture and disappearances.

Olalia, a member of the UPR Watch delegation and the president of the International Association of People’s Lawyers, said the delegates were from France, Norway, Slovenia, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Algeria, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico and the United States.

“Stripped of the usual diplomatic courtesies, this sizable number sends a strong message that the Philippine human rights record is both under the microscope and within the radar of the international community,” he said.

Olalia said questions were also raised on the “absence of convictions of perpetrators” in 901 political killings since 2001.

He said the Canadian representative indicated that his country “remains concerned [about the] few convictions.”

The British, on the other hand, “said that the Philippine government’s implementation of international rights instruments was ‘delayed and problematic,’ and that their government sees ‘no impact’ from measures against corruption,” he said.

Razzle-dazzle

Olalia said many Filipinos who witnessed Ermita’s presentation were “appalled by the ebullient presentation of barefaced lies, spins, and out-of-this world razzle-dazzle ... ”

“Ermita and his delegation gave unsatisfactory and even formulaic answers to questions they chose to answer and totally ignored the rest, like those regarding concrete steps on the recommendations of UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston,” he said.

Casiño said what was even more incredible was the Philippine government’s claim that it was implementing anticorruption measures, including strengthening the Ombudsman’s investigation and prosecution powers, holding continuous trials in antigraft courts, and installing electronic case management and information systems.

Fresh cases

“I almost fell from my seat listening to him (Ermita) expound on government efforts to strengthen the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan, the success of its electronic procurement system, and effectivity of its lifestyle checks,” Casiño said.

“Fortunately, not all countries took this line, hook and sinker,” the lawmaker said.

Casiño had earlier vowed to lobby the UN to strip the Philippines of its membership in the UNHRC in view of the fresh cases of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances this year.