MALACAÑANG yesterday dismissed as a “cut-and-paste collection of recycled issues and arguments” the Amnesty International (AI) 2021-2022 report that lack of accountability continues to facilitate alleged unlawful killings and other human rights violations under the Duterte government’s war on drugs campaign.
Communications Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said AI researchers should sit down with the government to be enlightened on “valid issues or otherwise” that have been thrown against the drug war.
Andanar also said the AI can engage with the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat “so that matters are properly discussed and resolved.”
“We consider the Amnesty International Report 2021-2022 as simply a cut-and-paste collection of recycled issues and arguments used by perennial detractors and critics of the Duterte Administration… AI’s reports are never vetted with the Philippine government if only to authenticate their information. The absence of such vetting relegates AI’s report to a mere false rehash,” he said.
He cited as examples the AI narratives on the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, issues surrounding Maria Ressa and Sen. Leila de Lima, and the controversy hounding the government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response, which Andanar said has already been answered.
“In all this, let it not be missed out, especially by AI, that the Philippines’ election to a fifth term in the United Nations Human Rights Council is a recognition by this global body of the Philippine government’s faithful adherence to promoting, protecting, and fulfilling the human rights of the Filipino people,” Andanar said.
In its report posted on its website yesterday, AI said the lack of accountability continued to facilitate unlawful killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines’ war on drugs.
It also reported that the International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into President Duterte’s alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the drug war has been suspended at the request of the Philippine government to give way to the supposed resolution of cases related to the killings.
It added that in October last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had already released partial information on its review of just 52 cases involving anti-drug operations-related deaths and found evidence that “contradicted police claims that lethal force had been justified, and confirmed violations documented by local and international human rights groups.”
AI likewise cited the cases of indigenous peoples who are the target of alleged attacks by authorities and unknown assailants, as well as human rights defenders, political activists, and politicians who are subjected to unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment.
It also raised the slew of cases filed against journalist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa, the detention of Senator Leila de Lima, and the “red-tagging” of organizations and individuals who are being linked to communist groups.
The human rights group also raised the Supreme Court’s striking down two provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law in December 2021, adding that it proved that the law was flawed and open to abuse.
It also lamented that while the Philippine government started its COVID-19 vaccination program in March 2021, there were concerns about its slow implementation, uneven geographical distribution, and discriminatory access to vaccines, as well as concerns about the Department of Health’s alleged mishandling of funds for the COVID-19 response.
