Rights violations not part of gov't policy, Año says amid Investigate PH report

Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday reiterated that no government policy in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic violates human rights.

"We assure na wala sa policy natin ang paglabag ng anumang human rights ng ating mga kababayan,”  Año told Unang Balita in an interview.

(We can assure that it is not our policy to violate any human rights of our countrymen.)

Año was reacting to the report of an international rights group regarding the supposedly increasing human rights violations in the country amid the pandemic.

Año, a former military chief of staff, pointed out that measures have been placed to ensure that human rights are always observed and that violators would be held accountable.

Año said they do not support red-tagging of community pantry organizers and do not tolerate erring policemen, after the third and final report of the Independent International Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines, or Investigate PH, called out these issues.

The report said the government used security forces to arrest over 100,000 people for leaving their homes to collect water and food or to try to work during the implementation of community quarantine.

The report also said organized community action to provide food to households was repressed even if the participants complied with COVID restrictions, since these initiatives were "red-tagged."  —KBK, GMA News