Senator Risa Hontiveros. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
To ensure that the world is not “misinformed,” the government should invite representatives of the United Nations and the European Union (EU) to verify allegations of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Monday.
“The assertion that the UN and EU parliament were grossly misinformed of the situation in the country is wrong. The members of both the UN and EU have various missions to the country, manned by hundreds of staff. They know what is happening around here,” Hontiveros, member of the Senate minority group, said in a statement.
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“But if the government will continue to dismiss the international organizations’ pronouncements for their supposed lack of awareness of the realities on the ground, then I urge the Duterte government to invite representatives of the UN and EU to verify the allegations of EJKs in the country,” she said.
The senator issued the statement to show her support for embattled Vice President Leni Robredo, who is being threatened with impeachment after her video message to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, where she talked about the government’s deadly war on drugs.
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“The world needs to know what is happening in our country. They need to know that the government’s abusive and corrupt war on drugs has victimized our people and is tearing our society apart at the seams,” Hontiveros said.
“There is nothing patriotic about shutting the world off from the horrors of the thousands of unsolved extrajudicial killings in our country. It is not a defense of the country’s sovereignty. Rather, it is the perpetuation of the culture of killing and impunity. Sovereignty and impunity are two different things. Sovereignty resides in the people. Impunity kills people,” she added.
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Hontiveros said the Duterte government must understand that the Philippines is part of a global community joined not only by trade and economic ties, but by the shared respect for human dignity and social welfare.
“We, thus, have an obligation to democracy, human rights and rule of law. And this obligation includes subjecting our public policies and governance affairs to scrutiny, in the same way that we may scrutinize, protest or constructively engage the actions of other states or global players,” she said.
“This is an important moment for the administration. Its fate and place in history shall rest partly on how it will respond to the international community and the growing public clamor to end impunity and violence across the country,” the senator added. CBB/rga