The worsening word war widens the gap between the Duterte administration and the UN.
The word war between Philippine President and the United Nations Organization or UN regarding the series of extra-judicial killings of the personalities allegedly connected to illegal drugs has worsened.
Duterte recently said that UN’s plan to investigate the massive killings of drug personalities in the Philippines is “stupid” and he warned the international body not to meddle with the country’s internal affairs, especially in the campaign against illegal drugs.
President Duterte said “United Nations (UN) does not have any business investigating human rights violations of the police. You don’t come here investigate the deaths of criminals and those suspected na sabi nila pinatay ng mga pulis (suspected to have been killed by the police) when after all we have also lost a sizable amount of our security forces in govt”.
Duterte however said that he has ordered an investigation on every killing, which is a result of an encounter, in a bloody encounter. The investigation, he said will not be done by the investigation section of the same office where the policeman is connected with, but the probe will be done by the Internal Affairs office and or the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
But UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, slammed at the president and said that any official proven to be responsible in the extra-judicial killings linked to the anti-drug crackdown can be held liable.
In reaction, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said that the local and international observers’ misunderstanding of the government’s anti-drug campaign is more alarming than the actual problem on prohibited substances.
He further said that the blame coming from government critics and international observers is unfair, especially to law enforcement officers such as the police who risk their lives in the anti-drug operations.
“What is more alarming than the the pandemic use and trade of illegal drugs in the Philippines is the seeming incomprehension by local and international observers,” ani Abella. “The President therefore decries the attribution of killings to the Philippine government. This is simply unfair, especially to the hardworking men and women in uniform who risk their lives and limbs to win the war against drugs”.