Philippines decries 'anti-Duterte' BBC documentary
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines' top diplomat cried foul after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) aired a documentary about President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdown against illegal drugs.
The documentary, titled "Our World—Philippines: Democracy in Danger?", aired last Saturday.
"Now, two years after being elected, critics say Duterte is attacking the very institutions designed to keep his power in check. He's locking up those who criticize him, whilst the children of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos are emerging as powerful players," BBC said in the description of the documentary posted on its website.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano accused BBC of producing an "anti-Duterte propaganda, more worthy of tabloid journalism and gossip."
The DFA secretary claimed that the episode was misleading and failed to mention that the president's so-called war on drugs has made the country "safer, healthier and more prosperous."
"The episode also makes little mention of the sheer magnitude of the drug problem in the Philippines, the enormous damage to millions of families caused by addiction, and the fact that police are under strict orders to follow the law in the conduct of our campaign against illegal drugs," Cayetano said in a statement.
READ: Duterte repeats vow he won't let soldiers go to jail amid military 'disloyalty' fears | Duterte: I won’t allow cops, soldiers to be jailed
BBC 'biased' for De Lima, Trillanes, Sereno
Cayetano also accused BBC of being one-sided on the cases of Sen. Leila de Lima, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, all known critics of Duterte.
De Lima has been detained for allegedly being involved in the proliferation of the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison. Duterte recently revoked the amnesty granted to Trillanes and ordered his arrest.
Sereno's appointment as the country's top judge was nullified following a quo warranto petition that Solicitor General Jose Calida filed.
Cayetano insisted that all three critics of the president have been given "their day in court."
"The rule of law has been upheld in all three cases. They are not, as the report unfairly alleges, victims of any crackdown on the political opposition. The report also failed to mention the obvious: all three remain free to criticize the Duterte Administration," Cayetano said.
De Lima has been in government custody since February 2017 but releases handwritten "dispatches" through her staff.
She is heavily escorted when brought to and from court hearings, with her police escorts at times trying to block media cameras from taking photos. On at least one ocassion, her escorts coughed simultaneously to drown out what she was shouting to reporters covering the hearing.
HEARING CANCELLED FOR 2ND TIME – Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima leaves the Court Room of the New Bilibid Prison, in Muntinlupa City after the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 cancelled for the second time its hearing on the trumped-up drug charges against her. pic.twitter.com/qnMvJjEflQ
— Leila de Lima (@SenLeiladeLima) October 2, 2018
Both Trillanes and Sereno were interviewed in the documentary. Trillanes warned of a possible declaration of nationwide martial law while Sereno talked about how the administration is threatening the independence of the judiciary.
"Given the opportunity, he would pull that trigger so we, the members of the opposition, are preparing for such an eventuality," Trillanes told BBC correspondent Howard Johnson.
Sereno described how the Duterte administration does not like criticism and shows viciousness to groups that they consider as critics.
"I think that is precisely the impression that this adminsitration wanted — that you cannot cross him (Duterte) and if you cross him you're going to pay a high price for it," Sereno told Johnson.
Coming up this w/end...@BBCOurWorld is in the #Philippines for an unvarnished look at the presidency of #RodrigoDuterte two years into his violent #warondrugs. Here's a preview...
— BBC Our World (@BBCOurWorld) September 26, 2018
UK times: https://t.co/B0Dnz0LS0X
World: https://t.co/I8IMi08YWi pic.twitter.com/Tj2DnFIAZ7
Duterte's trust ratings
Cayetano also claimed that the BBC reported did not take into consideration that Duterte continues to enjoy high trust and approval ratings.
Citing the latest Pulse Asia survey, the DFA chief said seven out of 10 Filipinos trust the president while three out of four approve of his performance.
The latest Social Weather Survey (SWS), meanwhile, found that Duterte's satisfaction rating went up to 70 percent.
What Cayetano failed to mention was that Duterte suffered a double-digit drop in his approval and trust ratings. The latest Pulse Asia poll showed that his approval rating fell from 88 percent in June to 75 percent in October while his trust score decreased from 87 percent to 75 percent in the same period.
A recent SWS survey also found that majority of Filipinos consider Duterte's controversial "God is stupid" remark and joke about Davao City rape cases were "bastos" or vulgar.
'Present an accurate, balanced view'
The DFA secretary called on the BBC to present an "accurate" and "balanced" views of the issues in the Philippines next time.
"More importantly, we believe that by doing so, BBC will be able to regain the trust of its audience in its journalistic professionalism and repair the damage it has inflicted on the Philippines and the Filipino people as a result of this one-sided documentary," Cayetano said.
Roque challenges BBC on Alston report
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque had earlier challenged BBC to produce a report on Duterte's supposed links to the Davao Death Squad.
Roque claimed that former United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston already cleared Duterte of liability in relation to killings blamed on the vigilante group that targeted drug offenders.
“I also mentioned in the BBC that what the Philip Alston report said were administrative lapses and it’s there. Will someone please get the relevant paragraph cited by BBC and will you please write a letter to BBC, because they should not have just limited it to mentioning the paragraphs, they should actually have shown what Philip Alston said?” Roque said in a press briefing Tuesday.
In 2008, Alston noted that "while repeatedly acknowledging that it was his 'full responsibility' that hundreds of murders committed on his watch remained unsolved, [Mayor Dutetre] would perfunctorily deny the existence of a death squad and return to the theme that there are no drug laboratories in Davao."
Alston also said that "the mayor freely acknowledged that he had publicly stated that he would make Davao 'dangerous' and 'not a very safe place' for criminals, but he insisted that these statements were for public consumption and would have no effect on police conduct."
He said: "The mayor’s positioning is frankly untenable: He dominates the city so thoroughly as to stamp out whole genres of crime, yet he remains powerless in the face of hundreds of murders committed by men without masks in view of witnesses."
A portion of a 2009 addensum to the Alston report reads:
The Mayor of Davao City has done nothing to prevent these killings, and his public comments suggest that he is, in fact, supportive. Mayor Duterte responded to the reported arrest and subsequent release of a notorious drug lord in Manila by saying: 'Here in Davao, you can’t go out alive. You can go out, but inside a coffin. Is that what you call extra-judicial killing? Then I will just bring a drug lord to a judge and kill him there, that will no longer be extra-judicial.'
In the same report, Alston noted he "is not aware of a single conviction for a death squad killing in Davao. As a result, death squad members operate with complete impunity."
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