Rights group calls out 'damage control' by Philippines in UN rights council session

A human rights group has called out the Philippine government's statements before the United Nations Human Rights Council as "damage control" to preempt international action on alleged rights violations in the country.

The Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippine (EcuVoice) once again urged the UN body to investigate the human rights situation in the Philippines, expressing cynicism at the government's claim of the adequacy of domestic remedies.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday represented the Philippines in the UNHRC's session, where rights chief Michelle Bachelet presented a report on the Philippines that found extrajudicial killings in the country have been met with "near impunity."

Guevarra said human rights is a "fundamental national interest" and touted RealNumbersPH, a monitoring mechanism for the Duterte administration's anti-illegal drug campaign. He also announced the creation of an inter-agency panel that will review thousands of police anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths.

Guevarra said the panel will present a report on its work in November 2020. 

"The pledges and comments though now delivered in more sober and studied tones appear to be damage control to save its international reputation, pre-empt any further concrete and decisive international opportunities or mechanisms for accountability, and to provide the environment to wreak more damage on the Filipino people in its draconian solutions to the drug menace, rampant criminality, pandemic catastrophe and the supposed threat of terrorism," EcuVoice said in a statement.

Guevarra also claimed that the local justice system provides avenues for remedies against wrongdoing by state actors and that courts are independent.

EcuVoice countered that "saccharine statements" in the face of condemnation, as well as the creation of another government body to address impunity, "become soporific in the face of previous experience and present realities."

"There is more to a single official document presented by the Philippine government on the human rights situation by way of reply to the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) report than meets the eye," it said.

The group said the document cannot replace "overwhelming, abundant and credible" evidence that have been studied by "independent international experts and bodies."

"The Philippine government cannot just simply throw all consistent and persistent accounts of violations and frustrations with domestic remedies through the token of another washing machine to discombobulate the mind and deodorize the foul stink," EcuVoice said.

President Rodrigo Duterte and several government officials face allegations of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the drug war.

Though Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC, the court's prosecutor continued its preliminary examination of the allegations to determine whether or not to pursue an investigation.

The ICC is "complementary" to national criminal jurisdictions. According to the Rome Statute, its establishing treaty, the court may admit cases when the state involved is "unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution."

In claiming that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Duterte, the government has argued that the Philippine courts are functioning. --KBK, GMA News