Palace hits UN experts’ probe on De Lima rights ‘violations’

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang declared as “intrusion of our sovereignty” the move of three United Nations special rapporteurs to investigate the alleged human rights violations against detained Senator Leila de Lima.

The UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has expressed “its serious concerns about the unfavorable remarks made publicly” by President Rodrigo Duterte after the senator “expressed her intention to investigate the extrajudicial killings under the so-called war on drugs.”

READ: UN experts to probe alleged human rights violations vs De Lima

“They’ve been saying that, and we’ve been saying, the problem with you people is that you’re listening to the critics of this administration. You’re not investigating on your own,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing on Friday.

De Lima, a known fierce critic of the Duterte administration, is being detained at the national police custodial center in Camp Crame, Quezon City over drug cases, which she has repeatedly said were “trumped-up” charges.

“There is a process in this country and we follow that process. They’re there because probable cause was found, that’s why information was filed against this accused,” Panelo said.

“To my mind, what they are doing is intrusion of our sovereignty,” he added.

Panelo said Thursday the government was already “fed up” with the practice of “using the UN as a platform to parrot baseless criticisms” of the government’s detractors.

READ: Palace hits UN expert for asking gov’t to stop attacks vs rights defenders

“For too long, the UN has been used by these detractors as a tool for vilification,” he said. /kga