Robredo: Gov't should welcome UN rights probe if it's not hiding anything

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday said the government should welcome the United Nations' inquiry on the human rights situation in the Philippines if the government is not hiding something.

"Iyong sa atin lang, kung totoo na walang human rights violations dito, bakit sasalungatin natin iyong imbestigasyon?" Robredo said in her weekly radio show BISErbisyong Leni.

"Mas mabuti ngang pinapakita natin na wala tayong tinatago kaysa haharangin natin," she added, amid the rejection of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) of the UN experts' call on the UN Human Rights Council to look into the state of human rights under the Duterte administration

The DFA said the UN's move would undermine the country's judicial process.

"Ang sadya naman ng imbestigasyon, para masigurong walang masamang nangyayari," said Robredo, a lawyer. "Pero kapag hinaharang natin, hindi ba parang lalong nakakadagdag sa pagdududa? Bakit mo haharangin kung wala ka namang tinatago?"

Critics and human rights groups have blamed President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs for the deaths of over 5,000 drug suspects since 2016.

According to Robredo, her office has received requests for assistance from families of the slain suspects.

"Marami talagang mga human rights violations na nagaganap. Halimbawa, tayo dito [sa Office of the Vice President], puntahan tayo ng mga pamilyang nawalan ng tatay, nawalan ng asawa, na parang walang kalaban-laban," she said.

Robredo said that the UN experts should be allowed to do their jobs, including doing intervention in the event that the first line of defense in protecting human rights, the government, fails to fulfill its mandate.

"Iyong assessment nila, maraming mga hindi maipaliwanag na pagkamatay ng mga Pilipino kaya gusto nilang mag-step in. Kung ako ang pamahalaan, kung wala naman akong tinatago, iwe-welcome ko iyon," she said.

"Pagkakataon para malinis iyong pangalan na hindi naman totoo iyong sinasabi, hindi totoo iyong haka-haka na maraming human rights violations dito." —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA News