Human rights, human lives of equal importance — Diokno

Senatorial candidate Atty. Chel Diokno on Saturday said that human rights and human lives matter equally.

"Wala pong pagkakaiba ang karapatang pantao at ang buhay ng tao. Sa amin po, itong issue ng droga, salot naman talaga sa lipunan ang droga. Ang tanong lang, ano 'yung tama at pangmatagalang solusyon sa droga," Diokno said during the first round of Debate 2019: The GMA Senatorial Faceoff.

The human rights lawyer made the remark when panelist Howie Severino cited President Rodrigo Duterte's third State of the Nation Address where the latter said of human rights advocates: "Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives."

The President previously said that Filipinos "shall be protected from criminals, terrorists, corrupt officials, and traffickers [of] contrabands."

Diokno, for his part, noted during the debate that in order to do this, the justice system in the country must be reformed.

"There's no shortcut to justice, kung gusto nating masugpo ang korupsyon at kriminalidad, kailangan maayos natin ang ating sistema ng hustisya," he said.

Diokno, the president of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), also belied allegations that human right lawyers favor crime suspects instead of offering their legal services to the actual victims.

"Hindi totoo 'yan. Sa aking tatlumpung taon na pagiging human rights lawyer ako rin po ay nakahawak ng kasong para sa mga sundalo, mga kapulisan na nalalabag din ang kanilang mga karapatang pantao... Kami po ay hindi naman kami namimili kung sino ang naging biktima ng human rights violation, basta lumapit po sa amin at nandun ang criteria namin, may human rights violation na hindi makapagbabayad ng abugado ay tutulungan namin," he said. 

— RSJ, GMA News