De Lima: Duterte wishing to ‘export’ stance vs human rights to other countries

Sen. Leila de Lima
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

President Rodrigo Duterte advising Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to ignore human rights concerns over the presence of Rohingya Muslims in her country was a “throwback to the dark ages,” Senator Leila de Lima said on Thursday.

“There is something fundamentally wrong in a national leader advising another to ignore human rights. It is a throwback to the dark ages, and it simply does not belong in the 21st century,” De Lima said in her latest dispatch from detention.

The detained senator, a fierce critic of Duterte, slammed the Chief Executive for wanting to “single-handedly reverse this achievement of humanity” by influencing his fellow leaders to believe in his “philosophy of inhumanity and dehumanization.”

READ: Duterte to Suu Kyi: Ignore human rights criticisms on Rohingya issue

“Duterte seems to be no longer contented to merely limiting his anti-human rights position within the Philippines. He now appears to be interested in exporting it to other countries,” De Lima said.

Last week, Duterte said he “pitied” Suu Kyi now that she is heavily criticized over her government’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

“You know, Aung San Suu Kyi was with us. I pity her because she seems to be caught in the middle being a Nobel Prize winner for peace and this is the ruckus now she is heavily criticized,” Duterte said in a speech before Indian business leaders and investors.

“You know, [she] has been complaining that—this is—we are talking about our country, the interest of our country. Our own country. And I said, ‘Do not mind the human rights. They’re just a noisy bunch actually,’” Duterte said. /jpv