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‘NO ONE IS SAFE’

Duterte has made PHL ‘a far more dangerous place’ — Amnesty Int’l


Rather than making the Philippines safer, President Rodrigo Duterte has made the country a "far more dangerous place" by rolling back Filipinos' human rights protections, Amnesty International Philippines said.

With Duterte set to deliver his third State of the Nation Address on Monday, the rights organization on Thursday released a blistering critique of his administration's human rights agenda or, as they put it, the lack thereof.

"[I]mpunity and lack of accountability have been shamelessly displayed at almost all levels of his administration, failing to meet its basic job to protect the Filipino people including meeting their basic economic needs and civil liberties," said the group's statement.

AI Philippines section director Jose Noel Olano said the Duterte administration "does not know how to listen" and that his human rights agenda has been "on a downward spiral" since his first SONA in 2016.

"While the President said in his 2016 speech that ‘his administration shall be sensitive to the State’s obligation to promote, protect and fulfill human rights, especially the poor, marginalized and the vulnerable; that social justice will be pursued and rule of law at all times will prevail’, his human rights agenda basically went on a downward spiral from that time onwards," he said.

What contributed to this, Olano said, is the President's supposed resistance to recommendations "put forward by more diverse sectors in lieu of the opinion of his few trusted advisors."

Olano also blamed Duterte's refusal to accept criticism from the international community.

Earlier this year, the President announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, citing "baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks" against him related to the Hague-based tribunal's probe into "summary killings" being linked to his administration.

Duterte's Cabinet had also fired back at the 38 states that urged the Philippine government to put an end to the drug killings.

Kill or be killed

Olano also stressed the consequences that may come from Duterte's "audacity to smear human rights."

"It is not only his speeches about keeping our country safe that has become mere lip service but in his audacity to smear human rights, he has rolled back on hard-won human rights protections that are supposed to keep everyone safe, in the first place," he said.

"Abandoning human rights values and principles is a failure on his part and comes with a huge cost of essentially guaranteeing that the no one can ever be safe because the country has become a far more dangerous place," he added.

Olano said Duterte has "actively created a climate where anyone can kill or be killed, the poor were the obvious prey but more recently even government officials."

"This situation has given anyone a free rein to commit human rights abuses and violations with impunity where social and political division thrive, leading to greater potential for human rights violations," Olano said.

"By denying Filipinos of true and lasting justice, this administration will only fuel despair with no limit or end," he added. — Margaret Claire Layug/BM, GMA News

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