President Rodrigo Duterte may have voiced out his opinions against the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on several occasions but Malacañang said the Philippine government will not follow the move made by the United States government to withdraw from the council.
In a Palace briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said, “We are also in the UN Human Rights Council. We are not following suit if that’s the question. The President has no reaction on what the Americans have decided.”
The US on Tuesday withdrew from the UNHRC, criticizing its hypocrisy and bias against US ally Israel.
READ:US withdraws from ‘cesspool’ UN rights body
Sought for comment on the issue, Roque said Duterte was “very careful never to comment on sovereign decisions.”
“You know the President is very careful never to comment on sovereign decisions, in the same way that he does not want other states commenting on sovereign decisions,” he said.
“We leave it at that, [it’s] the decision of the Americans, so be it,” Roque added. /vvp