Sotto: Show number of abortion cases before probing PH for killings

Senate President Vicente Sotto III. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA

MANILA, Philippine — Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said the nations that favored a thorough review on the human-rights situation in the Philippines should first bare the number of abortion cases in their own countries, adding that “they have no moral high ground to lecture us.”

“Before the UN (United Nations), US and western countries investigate [the] so-called extra judicial killings here, they should tell us how many hundreds of thousands of babies they abort who are about to be born,” Sotto said in a viber message to reporters on Friday.

“Ano yun, walang rights? They have no moral high ground to lecture us,” he added.

Sotto issued this statement a day after 18 out of the 47-member states that make up the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted to adopt an Iceland-led resolution on Thursday during its 41st session in Geneva, Switzerland.

The said resolution called on the rights council to thoroughly review the human rights situation in the Philippines.

It also requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to prepare and present a “comprehensive written report” on the human-rights issue in the country

Fourteen countries rejected the resolution while 15 abstained from voting.

READ: Greater scrutiny on PH killings gets UN rights council’s nod 

Sotto had earlier branded the resolution as “biased” and advised the Philippine government to disregard it.

READ: Sotto hits nations backing Iceland human rights resolution 

He also tagged the nations who supported the resolution as “dangerous drugs tolerant.” /jpv