Palace believes Trump, not drug war report

MANILA, Philippines — As far as Malacañang is concerned, the US Department of State’s country report on human rights practices in the Philippines is not consistent with the statements of US President Donald Trump, who had praised President Duterte for his war on drugs.

“I personally heard the discussion between President Trump and President Duterte when they were here in the Philippines during the ASEAN Summit and I think I heard words from President Trump praising President Duterte, including the war on drugs. If I’m not mistaken, President Trump said he knows what he (Duterte) is doing in the Philippines,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday. “So I do not know how to reconcile the State Department report with the actual statement of the President.”

Malacañang is inclined to believe the statements of Trump, which are not consistent with the State Department report, Roque stressed.

He said he was not sure whether the new US secretary of state had reviewed the latest country report on the Philippines.

“I was really lost on how to read it,” Roque said, referring to the report, which said extrajudicial killings remain the chief human rights concern in the Philippines after noting the war against illegal drugs.

The report, citing 900 drug-related deaths from January to September last year, noted that police impunity has “increased significantly.”

“Police claimed to have begun investigations of all reports of extrajudicial killings… Some civil society organizations accused police of planting evidence, tampering with crime scenes, unlawfully disposing of the bodies of drug suspects and other actions to cover up extrajudicial killings,” the report read in part.

The US government also expressed doubt over the accuracy and legitimacy of Duterte’s list of drug personalities.

Philippine senators suggested that the Duterte administration engage the international community to address concerns over the thousands of drug-related killings in the country.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto stressed “there is no doubt that extrajudicial killings exist” where “thousands have died.”

“It’s no surprise that both the US and EU (European Union) have called the government’s attention to extrajudicial killings. We are part of a global community,” Recto said as he also made it clear that the public supports the war on drugs and Duterte’s leadership style.

When asked how the administration should address concerns of the EU parliament and the US State Department, he said: “I expect them to engage. Prove them wrong. Send their data, if any.”

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III lamented that the EU parliament and the US State Department “do not know what is really happening here.”

“They were only listening to the anti-administration groups, especially in the media. Why aren’t they like that when it comes to rapes in India? Is the anti-drug pushers campaign here the only important issue for them?” Sotto said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Malacañang should squarely address the serious concerns of the international community by presenting facts.

As chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, he stressed that diplomacy and dialogue will go a long way in setting the record straight on the administration’s controversial and bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

He added that Malacañang should exert efforts to inform the international community of the administration’s side, particularly the casualties among security forces who battled it out with drug traders and their men.

“The best antidote to such criticisms is to throw back facts. Instead of saying ‘we don’t care,’ let productive people in the intelligence community analyze their (EU and US) reports and correct them through communications,” Lacson told dzBB.

“Our communication – not only in the country but also outside – should be improved and that can’t be done by cursing or criticizing. When you criticize, were you able to correct any misimpression?” the senator added as he appealed to the media to also report the strides of the government against illegal drugs and the numerous casualties sustained by the police during the campaign.

Lacson said the international community is greatly influenced by what the local media report in forming their stand on the administration’s war on drugs.

The senator said Malacañang should also concede that some of the criticisms on extrajudicial killings have basis even as he stressed that there remains a need to review the anti-drug operations.

As a former policeman himself, he pointed out that police officers handling drug cases should not be lazy or frustrated if the suspects they are prosecuting are set free either by corruption or poor evidence gathering.

“Nothing beats hard work, good intelligence and patience,” Lacson said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros hit the government’s foreign policy, saying “Duterte’s foreign policy is protecting impunity, not sovereignty.”

“His foreign policy people like to use the word ‘sovereignty’ when what they really want to do is silence all forms of dissent, domestic and international, while they stay appallingly silent about China’s blatant incursions into our territory,” Hontiveros said.

Meanwhile, rights advocates Karapatan yesterday challenged Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano to file a diplomatic protest against the Trump administration for the cruel and inhuman acts of the US Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection to Filipino Moro human-rights activist Jerome Succor Aba. According to the group, Aba suffered various forms of psychological and physical torture at the hands of US agents from April 17 to 19 after arriving at the San Francisco International Airport for a speaking tour organized by the Human Rights Office of the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church and the US chapter of the International Coalition on Human Rights in the Philippines.

“Aba was forced to strip naked, with an electric fan blasting at him, while he was being interrogated by US officials. Throughout the interrogation, Aba was kept handcuffed. (The US) officials also denied him food and water, and even disrespected his religious beliefs by deliberately serving him pork. Also during interrogation, the slightest movement from Aba, even for just stretching his arms or moving his head, would earn him the ire of interrogators,” the group claimed.

It stressed the US is “like a pot calling a kettle black” when it reported on the Philippines’ rights situation when it also has one of the  world’s worst rights record.

“The filing of a diplomatic protest against the US government will be an indicator if Cayetano and the Philippine government are indeed capable of exercising the country’s sovereignty, or if it is just rhetoric used to conveniently dismiss critics,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary-general. – With Paolo Romero, Rhodina Villanueva