Palace disputes AI’s critique on Duterte

Malacañang belied on Friday the allegations of human rights group Amnesty International (AI) that President Rodrigo Duterte has made the country an even “more dangerous place” for setting aside human rights values.

“There is no truth to the statement of Amnesty International that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has made the Philippines ‘a far more dangerous place,’” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Jose Noel Olano, AI Philippines Section Director, said Duterte “has actively created a climate where anyone can kill or be killed, the poor were the obvious prey but more recently even government officials.”

READ: Amnesty International slams gov’t’s human rights policies

Duterte has received global criticisms for his administration’s brutal war on drugs, which some said violated human rights.

“We reiterate the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs is conducted through legitimate police enforcement operations” and pinned the deaths to “the drug personalities’ violent resistance to lawful apprehensions,” Roque said.

He cited 2017 the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that showed that common crimes are a “record-low” of 6.1 percent while the annual average for property crimes was likewise at record-low at 5.6 percent in 2017, the lowest in 28 years.

He also cited public support for Duterte’s war on drugs, which was at 88 percent, according to a recent Pulse Asia survey.

READ: Palace pleased with latest poll result

“As a member of the bar, the President has prosecuted murder as a capital offense.  He, therefore, does not and will never condone extralegal killings, as he maintains zero tolerance for erring policemen who digress from standard protocols and abuse their power,” Roque said.  Kristine Macasiray, INQUIRER.net intern