SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday urged Filipinos to monitor the developments in the government’s investigation into the alleged “lack of respect for human rights” of uniformed personnel in pursuit of the former Duterte administration’s crackdown against illegal drugs.
In an interview with radio dzBB, Pimentel said also urged the people to be aware of their basic human rights, especially when it involves the implementation of laws.
“We should all be concerned because human rights is involved here. If we let respect for human rights erode in the country, we will all be affected eventually. It is important that we closely monitor this because human rights is important to us and the future generations,” Pimentel said in Filipino as he lamented that the poor was at the losing end in Duterte’s war against drugs and the police’s absence of respect for human rights.
Pimentel made the remark after President Marcos during the weekend confirmed the announcement of Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra that the Philippines would already disengage with the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its Appeals Chamber rejected its appeal to stop the tribunal’s investigation into Manila’s alleged crimes against humanity in relation to the supposed extrajudicial killings and abuses in the enforcement of the drug crackdown of the past administration.
Pimentel said the Philippines’ reputation as a “responsible member of the international community” could be adversely affected by the government’s non-cooperation with the probe since the Rome Statute is clear that the Philippines is still by any investigation for crimes committed during the period when the country was still a member of the international body.
“For the time that we were covered while we are a member of the Rome Statute, kung ang imbestigasyon ay tungkol sa panahon na ‘yan, sinabi natin nung pumirma tayo na we will cooperate sa imbestigasyon sa panahon na ‘yan (For the time that we were covered while we were still a signatory to the Rome Statute, if the investigation is within that period, we stated when we signed the treaty that we will cooperate in the investigation for that period),” Pimentel said.
He said the reason why the ICC rejected the Philippines’ appeal was because of the few cases filed in local courts against the alleged perpetrators of the extrajudicial killings and the slow conviction of individuals who have already been charged in courts.
“Sa mata ng ICC hindi natin napakita na nagfa-function ang ating justice system. May court nga diyan, pero for these cases na namatay dahil sa war on drugs, crackdown, ‘yan ang very specific na sinabi nila na wala yata kaming nakikitang imbestigasyon. Kung meron man, hindi umaandar, walang cases filed, walang convicted. Yun ang tingin nila na very specific subject matter (In the eyes of the ICC, we failed to show that our justice system is functioning. We have courts, but for the cases involving those who were killed in the war on drugs, crackdowns, the ICC specifically said it has not seen any investigation. If there are investigations, they are not progressing, there are no cases filed, there are no convictions. The ICC thinks that this is a very specific subject matter),” he also said.
