Palace to UN’s Bachelet: Domestic remedies available for victims of rights abuses

Malacañang insisted on Thursday that the Philippines has institutions mandated to exact accountability from human rights violators.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement after United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday called on the Philippine government to "revoke the policies" that allegedly resulted in human rights violations under the drug war.

She also urged Philippine officials "to halt the use of rhetoric inciting violence against people who use or sell drugs."

“With all due respect to Madame Bachelet, as a former president of Chile, she knows that we have domestic institutions to promote accountability,” Roque, a lawyer, said in a televised briefing.

He said the institutions include the courts, Department of Justice and Commission on Human Rights, which last year supported a UN probe into the thousands of killings under the drug war.

“Other remedies are available to those who claim to be victims of human rights violations. We are not in default of our obligation to provide victims with an adequate domestic remedy,” Roque said.

PNP chief Police General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan has also maintained that the PNP would always be committed to the rule of law.

Bachelet said they are awaiting details from the DOJ on its review of police investigations on operations where drug suspects were killed "so we can advise and assess the review panel's scope, process and efficacy." — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News