Palace slams int’l tribunal’s ‘sham’ decision convicting Duterte

Malacañang on Thursday downplayed what it considers the bogus decision of an international court that convicted President Rodrigo Duterte  for human rights violations, saying that the ruling was part of leftist propaganda.

The International People's Tribunal (IPT) came up with the decision after hearing the testimonies of alleged victims and expert witnesses in proceedings held in the past two days in Brussels, Belgium.

"That’s a sham decision. It has no official sanction," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters.

"The validity of the findings will depend on the credibility of the tribunals. I’m in this field of law. I do not know who sat there. They appear to be a propaganda body of the international left, and therefore we set it aside as being a useless piece of propaganda against the government."

The IPT is convened by the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, IBON International and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.

"Tinitingnan ko iyong roster [of the tribunal], hindi ko po talaga kakilala. It’s really just leftists who happened to be white, sympathetic to the Philippine left. Grabe po kasi talaga iyong networking ng Philippine left with left groups as well, particularly in Europe," Roque said.

The allegations, brought by several militant groups against Duterte, include "gross and systematic violations of human rights" with focus on extrajudicial killings, massacres, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, political persecution, attacks on media, and multiple rights violations arising from the imposition of martial rule in Mindanao.

Other charges included terrorist labeling, destructive mining and attacks on civilian communities and on the "people's right to national liberation."

Rights group Karapatan said the decision will be forwarded to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is looking into the alleged state-sanctioned killings in the Philippines' war on drugs.

The verdict will also be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Parliament and other governments. —LBG, GMA News