Trump's state pick slammed for reluctant view on Duterte government

MANILA, Philippines — Leading human rights organizations raised concern over the testimony of Rex Tillerson, US President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of State.

In separate statements, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called Tillerson ill-informed and showing a lack of commitment in addressing human rights violations before he assumes his post as top American diplomat.

"After a day of questioning, Tillerson's commitment to human rights in the US and abroad is in serious question," Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang said in a statement.

Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, meawhile said Tillerson's answers to senators' queries at his nomination hearing suggest that he is "apathetic to human rights issues worldwide."

At the hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Tillerson refused to acknowledge that governments of Syria, the Philippines, Russia and Saudi Arabia have committed serious human rights violations.

Tillerson, a former oil executive set to replace State Secretary John Kerry, instead insisted that he needs to read classified information about the abuses attributed to the countries' leaders before passing judgment.

HRW noted "extensive and detailed reporting" for US's top officials to make a clear position on Russia's and Saudi Arabia's human rights records, war crimes in Syria and the Philippines's so-called drug war under President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Numerous independent observers, UN investigators, media, and humanitarian and human rights groups have published extensive and detailed reporting about... the Philippines government's abusive 'war on drugs' which has resulted in the killings of more than 6,200 suspected drug users in the last six months," Margon said in the statement.

Amnesty also said the governments have "clear patterns of documented violations."

"(Tillerson's) rhetoric suggests that under his leadership the State Department would not pressure human rights violators even in the face of overwhelming evidence," Huang said.

Duterte and his top officials have repeatedly denied that killings in the campaign against narcotics are extrajudicial in nature and invited international observers to investigate the killings first. Critics say, however, that officials' rhetoric alone has encouraged violence in law enforcement operations and efforts. — Video report from Efigenio Toledo IV