Some US senators urge Biden to condemn Duterte over ‘pattern of human rights violations’

Several US senators have urged the administration of US President Joe Biden to address the alleged pattern of human rights violations by the Philippine government under President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken dated July 26, Senator Edward J. Markey and ten other senators urged the US government to stand with the Filipino people to fight these rights abuses.

“The senators urged the Biden administration ‘to stand with the people of the Philippines as they continue to fight for their universal human rights’,” Markey said in a statement.

They cited the “inhumane” drug war; alleged collaboration with vigilante, fabricated reports, and planted evidence; as well as the supposed attacks against opposition, journalists, and activists.

GMA News Online has reached out to the Palace for its statement on the matter but has yet to reply as of posting time.

Pandemic

During the pandemic, the senators also said Duterte has continued to launch new attacks against civil societies, human rights defenders, and the media.

The senators also called out the supposed red-tagging by the government of individuals or groups, who are falsely accused of terrorism and communism to stifle criticism and freedom of expression.

“Maintaining a bilateral relationship such as this requires upholding shared values— the protection of human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and vibrant democratic governance,” the senators wrote in their letter to Blinken.

“Yet Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a multi-year extrajudicial, violent, and inhumane ‘war on drugs’ that has devastated communities, and has been used as justification to target the independent press, political opponents, human rights advocates, and compromise judicial due process<’ they added.

The lawmakers who signed the letter were:

• Edward J. Markey, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific
• Patrick Leahy from Vermont
• Jeffrey A. Merkley from Oregon
• Sherrod Brown from Ohio
• Ben Cardin from Maryland
• Ron Wyden from Oregon
• Bob Casey from Pennsylvania
• Cory Booker from New Jersey
• Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts
• Chris Van Hollen from Maryland

Markey, Leahy, and Durbin were banned from the Philippines following their support allowing the US to ban Philippine officials involved in the detention of Senator De Lima , a critic of Duterte, from travelling to the United States. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News