WASHINGTON – The US State Department has not yet been able to verify that human rights abuses are being committed in the Philippines in connection with President Duterte’s campaign against drug traffickers and users, spokesman Mark Toner said.
He said the United States was very concerned by “credible reports” of extrajudicial killings by or at the behest of government authorities in the Philippines, but conceded “we have not made a determination yet that this indeed is what’s happening.”
The outgoing Obama administration has been criticizing Duterte repeatedly in recent months over what it said were credible reports of human rights abuses.
But this is the first time it has admitted it has so far been unable to verify the reports.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson declined to pass judgment on Duterte, saying he did not have enough information to determine if Duterte and his government have committed human rights abuses in their war against narcotics and other drugs.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio had pressed Tillerson to condemn Duterte, claiming that since the Filipino President took office on June 30, police and vigilantes have killed about 6,200 people in the drug war.
If facts support allegations of extrajudicial killings “then I don’t think any of us would accept that as a proper way to deal with offenders,” Tillerson said.
In reply to a query, Toner said the State Department has not made a firm determination that, in fact, human rights abuses are being committed in the Philippine war on drugs.
Referring to the bilateral relationship between both countries, Toner said “we still continue to work on a government-to-government level, on a military-to-military level with the Philippine government and are going to continue to do so. It’s an important bilateral relationship for us.”
Duterte is seeking to lessen foreign military dependence on the United States and to pursue alliances or partnerships with China and Russia, two potential adversaries of the United States.