“Utterly appalling” and “unacceptable.”
This was how the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) described on Wednesday the new controversial video of Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and pro-Duterte blogger Drew Olivar.
In the video, Uson asked Olivar to do a sign language and he proceeded to make fun of it.
“The controversial video making fun of the sign language used by deaf people is utterly appalling and unacceptable especially that it involves a government official and a blogger affiliated to a government office,” CHR said in a statement.
“Such behavior is extremely degrading, derogatory, and further perpetuates the discrimination of the vulnerable deaf people,” it added.
According to the CHR, sign language is a “fundamental human right” of the deaf community and is part of their “higher right to self-determination.
Hence, it said making fun of the sign language is an “attack” on the dignity of members of the deaf community.
“Making a mockery of this right is an attack on their dignity and makes them even more vulnerable in our society where only a few understand their mode of communication,” the CHR said.
Both Uson and Olivar later apologized after the video went viral. But the CHR said the apologies should come “with a full sense of accountability.”
READ: ‘I’m sorry for being insensitive, childish,’ says Drew Olivar after controversial video
The Palace, for its part, refused to comment on the issue.
READ: Palace distances from new Mocha Uson, Drew Olivar controversy
“We welcome the public apology the duo recently issued. However, for an apology to be genuine, it must be coupled with a full sense of accountability, concrete actions to rectify the wrong done, and future actions should manifest efforts to protect and promote the welfare and dignity of the PWDs,” the CHR said.
The agency is now probing the case of Uson and Olivar, following the complaint filed by the Philippine Federation of the Deaf. /ee