'No chance' for UN probe into Philippines' drug war, Locsin says

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines' top diplomat would not allow the United Nations (UN) to come into the country and investigate alleged human rights violations linked to the war on drugs.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he will not be giving the UN a chance to do so.

"No – I don't want them coming here and then saying that everything they have been saying, but have not proved, is true 'because we saw it,'" Locsin said in an interview with ANC's "Headstart" Wednesday.

In June, 11 independent human rights experts called on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to launch a prove into alleged human rights violations in the Philippines.

The 11 independent experts noted a "staggering number of unlawful deaths" in the conduct of the Philippines' war on drugs.

“We are extremely concerned over the high number of killings which are being carried out across the country in an apparent climate of officials, institutional impunity,” the experts said in a joint statement.

DFA: Call 'made in bad faith'

The Department of Foreign Affairs rejected this call of the UN special rapporteurs, claiming that it was "made in bad faith."

The DFA said the call for an independent probe into human rights violations in the Philippines was made by partis "who want to undermine dometic process and spread disinformation."

“This action indicates the refusal of these parties to engage in true dialogue,” the DFA said in a statement.

The UN Human Rights Council, on the other hand, had adopted a resolution mandating a "comprehensive" review of the Philippines' drug war.

A total of 18 out of 47 member-states voted in favor of the Iceland-led resolution calling on the Philippines “to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable in accordance with international norms and standards on due process and the rule of law.” — Patricia Lourdes Viray