Duterte on UN review: It won’t prosper

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte expressed confidence last night that any investigation of the human rights situation in the Philippines by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will not prosper.

Duterte made the statement a few hours before the UNHRC voted to adopt the resolution filed by Iceland calling for a review of the human rights situation in the Philippines.

Reports said 18 countries voted in favor of the Iceland resolution while 14 voted against it. There were 15 abstentions.

Duterte said he doubts any case would prosper, especially if it would be based on revelations made by detained Sen. Leila de Lima.

“Bahala sila (Just let them be)…They will realize that yung kay De Lima, masadsad talaga kayo diyan. Maniwala sila doon,” he said, suggesting the council might be taken for a ride.

“My only question before wala. A court if I be called in, ‘Ms. De Lima, are you a moral person?’ Then I will show you some clips. ‘Is this how you remain moral?’ Now, sige sabihin ko sa mga ano…,” Duterte added.

Asked if UNHRC representatives would be allowed to investigate in the Philippines, Duterte said he would try to listen to them state their purpose first.

“Let them state their purpose, and I will…” he said, without ending his statement.

Duterte had earlier imposed conditions on such visits by UN investigators, especially on the one announced by UN human rights rapporteur Agnes Callamard.

Defending the Duterte administration’s human rights record, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said international human rights groups had been fed wrong information by critics.

He said there was no truth to reports that drug-related killings reached about 25,000 during the first three years of the Duterte administration.

Asked about international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney volunteering to help in the case of Rappler’s Maria Ressa, Duterte shrugged his shoulders, and said that Panelo is more than enough to “match” her.