Philippines vote vs UN resolution on Rohingya defended

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday defended the country’s vote against a United Nations (UN) resolution urging Myanmar to end its military campaign Rohingya Muslims living in its Rakhine state.

The Philippines was among 10 nations – Belarus, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Vietnam and Zimbabwe – that did not vote for the resolution of the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee.

The committee expressed alarm over the violence and “disproportionate use of force by the Myanmar military” against the Rohingya.

There were 135 countries that voted for the measure and 26 abstained.

Cayetano said the Philippines has been actively involved in UN deliberations on the Rohingya issue, wherein the discussions primarily centered on the humanitarian assistance needed by the displaced people and addressed the root causes of the crisis.

He said the Philippines put forward its position for Myanmar to quickly exert efforts to return the situation to normal and undertake earnest talks with Bangladesh to stop violence on all sides.

He noted there were many acts of violence “left and right.”

The crisis, Cayetano said, was also discussed during the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in Manila last week, which was chaired by the Philippines.

“Our options were ‘no’ and ‘abstain.’ Why is a yes not an option? First, we’re chairman of the ASEAN and usually we want to resolve things with the ASEAN set,” Cayetano told journalists at the Senate.

“I can assure all of you, our heart goes out to those affected, we are doing what we can to help them,” he said.

He said if the Philippines voted “yes,” the Myanmar leadership could harden its position and the efforts of the ASEAN as well as of non-government organizations in resolving the crisis would be adversely affected.

“We don’t just look at the title. If we think the issue is being politicized, we don’t support it,” he said.

Cayetano said the Philippines respects other ASEAN members if they do not agree with the 10 countries that voted no.

He described the crisis as a complex issue.

“What’s more important for us now is for the humanitarian assistance to come in. it’s a unique process that we have,” Cayetano said.

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima said she did not find it surprising that the Philippines voted no as the Duterte administration is confronted by international criticisms over its drug-related extrajudicial killings.

“I suspect that the real reason for the government’s ‘no’ vote is not out of diplomacy, but out of fear,” De Lima said. “It fears that a mirror will be held to its face and it will be made to see how monstrously it has been treating its own people.”

“It knows that it has lost any moral ascendancy to call out state abuses being committed against its own people. It is not a case of calculated diplomacy, but a case of people saying nothing when they dance with the devil,” De Lima added.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that by not supporting the UN resolution, the Philippines might also be considered as a human rights violator.

CBCP Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said the Rohingya have suffered a lot and they have lived a long time in Myanmar. They should be considered as citizens. – Evelyn Macairan