Leni on promoting human rights in Philippines: The struggle is real
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MANILA, Philippines — Promoting human rights in the Philippines has been a struggle lately, Vice President Leni Robredo said in a forum in London, as she lamented that Filipinos have started to see rights as a “bad thing.”
Speaking at a forum at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, Robredo recognized the difficulties of talking about and advocating human rights in the Philippines, especially in her case, because some may think her criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte's policies is motivated by ambition.
Duterte and Robredo belong to different political parties in the Philippines, where the president and the vice president are elected separately.
“I was a human rights lawyer for a long time and the way we’re doing things before, it seems that they are not working now. So it’s been a struggle. And the struggle is real,” Robredo said, in a reference to a catchphrase popular on the internet.
The vice president however was quick to emphasize that despite the roadblocks, human rights campaigners and advocates are looking for avenues to be more creative and to push back efforts to curtail fundamental rights.
“I think the crucial thing here is that we can’t give up. We have to continue doing the pushback,” she said.
Roadblocks to rights advocacy
Robredo lamented how the focus of the issue changes whenever she discusses human rights. She cited for example that some people thought that she was “ambitious” and was after Duterte’s job whenever she criticizes the Philippine government’s record on human rights.
Another example that the vice president cited was the issue on the number of drug-related deaths in Duterte’s war on drugs, a number that has been more difficult to track since the government has slowed down the release of its "Real Numbers"updates.
“I made a statement before the UN before, which put me in a lot of hot water, just because of the number of people who have died. But you know, what is sad about this is that one death is one death too many, but the debate has shifted to ‘It’s not 12,000. It’s just 3,000. It’s just 3,000.’ And 3,000 deaths are 3,000 deaths too many,” Robredo said based on the official transcript from the Office of the Vice President.
Robredo was referring to her video message to a side event at a United Nations forum, where she was critical the administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs.
The president’s allies blasted her for her what they said were disloyal and unpatriotic remarks and threatened an impeachment case at the House of Representatives, which is dominated by lawmakers supportive of Duterte.
She said that this led her to be more careful with her pronouncements although she underscored that this does not mean that she is afraid.
The vice president said that despite the concerns on the state of human rights in the Philippines there have been positive developments such as the “small shift” in the campaign against illegal drugs.
The crackdown on illegal drugs has been suspended twice following allegations of abuse by police. Officials of the Philippine National Police have promised a better campaign whenever the program is relaunched but have stopped short of guaranteeing a less bloody effort.
She also cited the efforts of some groups in promoting rehabilitation as an alternative in fighting illegal drugs and viewing the problem as a health issue.
“And the reality is that the president is very popular, and it’s—you know—it’s... it’s... it’s a lot of—it would take a lot of innovativeness and more imagination in advocating for human rights. It’s a different story altogether,” she said.
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