“Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its worldwide legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings”, the UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamardv said in a statement.
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The senator, he said, had no right to complain about the recent killings of drug suspects when she herself has “a very sordid personal and official life”.
President Rodrigo Duterte chided the United Nations for being “easy to be swayed into interfering into the affairs of the republic” and “coming on a very stupid proposition”.
The UN statement, posted on the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Duterte had repeatedly urged police and the public to kill drug suspects, while promising to protect police from prosecution.
“For 6 years, Senator De Lima has disparaged the reputation of PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) as being behind the Davao Death Squads but during her stint as Chairman of the Human Rights Commission and Secretary of Justice she never filed any criminal complaint against PRRD”, said Panelo in a statement.
Almost 600 suspected drug peddlers and users have been killed in police operations since Duterte took power six weeks ago, police say, but rights groups put the number at more than 1,000. In the last few months, hundreds of alleged drug offenders have been killed on the streets, many by vigilante groups empowered by the government.
Dela Rosa also said he was anxious because the number of drug users and pushers surrendering to the police had plateaued at about 600,000.
Aside from the regional directors, Dela Rosa also included provincial police directors, chiefs of police of a town or municipality, and their respective men who are not performing their duties well, particularly their mandate of eradicating illegal drugs.
While he did not refer to de Lima by name in that address, he later confirmed during a speech at Manila’s airport that he was indeed referring to the lawmaker.
“The bottom line, he is serious in fighting the drug problem”.
Recto said there were local officials, former officials and policemen on the list.
This is a war on drugs like no other on earth.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, meanwhile, said hearings on the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects would be fair and impartial.
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He said he could vouch for the national police intelligence, but not that of other agencies.
