Malacañang on Sunday said parties that raise human rights issues against the Philippine government’s relentless war on drugs should have “moral ascendancy” before making accusations of abuses.
“Ipinaliwanag din po ng Pangulo that hindi ho naman lahat ng mga nagrereklamo sa bansa natin ay walang tanong o walang kinalaman o walang question pagdating doon sa human rights, ng mga violations. So, it’s really a matter of kung mayroon bang moral ascendancy iyong mga nagtatanong about human rights,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.
(The President has clarified that not everyone who complained don’t have any relation or don’t have any questions regarding human rights violations. So, it’s really a matter of whether the people who are asking about human rights have moral ascendancy.)
Andanar made the comment when asked on President Rodrigo Duterte’s most important message to the regional community during his first foreign trip as Chief Executive to the Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) summit in Laos last week.
He said Duterte’s most important message in the Asean summit was that of independence in foreign policy.
READ: Duterte: Gov’t to pursue ‘independent foreign policy’
“Pagdating po naman sa questions of human rights, kailangan bago tayo magtanong o bago natin kuwestyunin ang human rights policy or kung anuman iyong mga paratang natin sa isang bansa ay dapat tingnan ho muna natin iyong context ng ating tanong at context ng isang kampaniya, for instance, laban sa droga ng isang bansa. Dapat intindihin muna natin,” Andanar said.
(When it comes to the question of human rights, before we ask and question the human rights policy or make any accusation against the country, we need to first look at the context of our question and the context of a campaign, for instance, the war against drugs of a country. We need to understand it first.)
“Kahit papaano naman siguro, he made us proud as Filipinos dahil pinaglaban niya ang ating karapatan sa buong mundo. At the same time, nilabas niya iyong more than 400 years of … iyong sama ng loob ba natin ‘no, doon sa mga pinaggagawa ng mga imperialist, ng ating mga colonial masters noon. So naipalabas niya na we are now following an independent policy, that we are also a sovereign state at dapat tayo ay tumayo sa sarili nating mga paa at dapat iwagayway natin ang ating bandila ‘no. We should be proud of our country,” he added.
(Even in some ways, he made us proud as Filipinos because he fought for our right before the whole world. At the same time, he poured out the ill-feelings towards the 400 years… what the imperialist and colonial masters had done in the past. So now, he has shown that we are following an independent policy, that we are also a sovereign state and that we need to stand on our feet and wave our own flag. We should be proud of our country.)
Duterte talked about human rights violations committed by American colonizers in the Philippines during his brief speech at the East Asia summit, with US President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the audience. The US, UN, and other international parties have raised human rights concerns amid an increasing body count in the administration’s antidrug campaign.
READ: Duterte hits US for PH abuses
Duterte, who said he was “not a fan of the Americans,” earlier dared to throw expletives at Obama in the summit should the latter question him on human rights and extrajudicial killings. This prompted the White House to cancel a planned bilateral meeting between the two leaders.
READ: Duterte: I’m no fan of US
In a later press conference, Obama said the US was willing to partner with the Philippines in going after narco-traffickers, but noted that any partnership with any country should be done “the right way.”
READ: Obama: US wants to partner with PH in drug crusade, but…
Andanar maintained that police operations against drug perpetrators were a success, but added that summary executions supposedly carried out by gangs against each other should be a cause for alarm and under investigation.
Andanar said Duterte, who came from a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, would have two more working visits to other countries within the month. JE/rga