Duterte talk ‘encourages war crimes’–HRW

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. PDI, JOAN BONDOC

Human rights advocates called out President Duterte anew for what they described as “incendiary rhetoric” that encouraged state troops “to commit war crimes” and “normalizes the idea that government security forces can do as they wish to defeat their enemies—including summary executions and sexual violence.”

In a statement on Friday, Human Rights Watch’s Philippine researcher Carlos Conde said that “(Mr.) Duterte’s offer of a bounty for killing communist rebels … encourages war crimes, such as shooting enemy fighters who have surrendered or are wounded, or who are civilians protected from attack.”

Reward for rebel kill

President Duterte last week offered the “lumad” (Mindanao indigenous people) a P20,000 reward for every communist rebel they killed. On another occasion, he said government soldiers should shoot female rebels in the vagina so they would be rendered “useless.”

Although Malacañang later described the President’s remarks as “a joke,” Conde said his remarks on female rebels were “misogynistic, derogatory and demeaning.”

“It encourages state forces to commit sexual violence during armed conflict, which is a violation of international humanitarian law,” Conde said.

“Duterte needs to stop encouraging his troops to commit war crimes and instead promote measures to ensure that those responsible for abuses—including members of rebel groups and militias—are held accountable in accordance with international law. Respecting rights rather than offering bounties is the best way to help the lumad,” Conde added.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) spokesperson had earlier made a similar recommendation.

‘Words matter’

“It is the duty of the government to ensure that women, as humans with rights and as part of the country’s most vulnerable and marginalized, enjoy the protection of the state and not be at the forefront of inflicting violence against them,” CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said in a statement on Monday.

As for the Palace dismissing the remarks as “a joke,” De Guia reminded the President that “words matter.”

Increased bounty

Despite such reminders, Mr. Duterte in a private meeting on Tuesday, raised the stakes and increased his proposed bounty for the killing of a communist rebel to P25,000, saying that such amount was more cost effective than a prolonged war.

“I told everybody, ‘you kill.’ I am increasing it now. You kill an NPA (New Peoples’ Army rebel) today and I’ll pay you P25,000,” the President said, based on the transcript of the meeting that Malacañang provided reporters.

If the war against communist insurgents were to go on for four years, it would be too expensive, Mr. Duterte said.

“It’s a war. But if I pay for the lives at P25,000, I will cut costs by about 47 percent,” he added.

Mr. Duterte also told his audience—whom Malacañang did not identify—that it would be easy to kill rebels as their “big heads” would be hard to miss.

“If you can shoot a bird above you, then how much more about an NPA whose head is so big? The NPAs are boastful. They’re arrogant. It’s irritating,” he said.