CHR will be watching

Presidential frontrunner and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte attends a press conference after he cast his vote in Davao City, on the southern island of Mindanao on May 9, 2016. Voting was underway in the Philippines on May 9 to elect a new president, with anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte the shock favourite after an incendiary campaign in which he vowed to butcher criminals. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte might have made controversial statements on women, persons with disabilities and killings during the campaign, but the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed hope that he would uphold the rule of law as President of the country.

“As all public officials will take oath to uphold the Constitution, we will hold that President-elect Duterte will stand for human rights,” CHR Chair Chito Gascon said on Tuesday.

During a briefing of the Bantay Karapatan sa Halalan, Gascon called on all public officials to “reaffirm their commitment to protection, promotion and fulfilment of all the human rights of all people regardless of what was said in the course of the campaign.”

The CHR remains concerned with Duterte’s remarks on women, PWDs and talks of extrajudicial killings, Gascon said. Erika Sauler