PNA story on rights defenders bill alarms UN special rapporteur

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations special rapporteur for human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, was “really disturbed” with how the government-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) carried a story describing the human rights defenders (HRD) bill as a “tool to undermine” government security agencies in the country.

UN special rapporteur Mary Lawlor tweeted on Friday her concern, along with a screenshot of a story from the PNA.

The story, posted on PNA’s website on Jan. 21, quoted Flosemer Chris Gonzales, spokesperson of the Western Visayas counterpart of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, who said that House Bill No. 10576, or the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act, serves as an “affront and insult to … all government workers and public servants.”

Gonzales is also the assistant provincial prosecutor of Aklan.

In her tweet, Lawlor said, “Really disturbed to see the state-run news agency in the Philippines carry articles describing the HRD bill as an attempt by terrorists to ‘erode and destroy’ state structures.”

—DEMPSEY REYES

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