Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday scored anew the Duterte administration for rejecting the European Parliament and the US State Department’s statements calling on the Philippines to put a stop to the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) happening in the country in light of the government’s war on drugs.
“The Duterte administration is openly lying to the global community and, consequently, alienating itself whenever it denies the existence of the thousands of extrajudicial killings,” Trillanes said in a statement.
“The whole world knows about it and these deaths have been witnessed and documented by multiple credible sectors, individuals and organizations both foreign and domestic,” Duterte’s vocal critic said.
The US government, in its annual global human rights report for 2017, said it continues to be alarmed over the sharp rise of EJKs and police impunity in the second year of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
The EU Parliament, likewise, adopted a resolution calling on the Philippines to end the killings in its anti-drug campaign.
The group also called for the release of detained Senator Leila de Lima, who is currently facing drug charges, and also called on the Duterte government to drop human rights defenders from its list of terrorists.
The EU Parliament, likewise, said it “strongly regrets” the Philippines’ decision to initiate its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In this regard, the EU Parliament reiterated its call for the European Commission and their External Action Service to initiate “procedural steps” that could lead to temporary withdrawal of trade incentives—GSP+—if the Philippines do not show any “substantive improvements.”
But Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano slammed the EU Parliament saying it “has crossed a red line when it called for unwarranted actions against the Philippines.”
“This resolution that the European Parliament just adopted is based on biased, incomplete, and even wrong information, and does not reflect the true situation on the ground,” Cayetano said in a statement on Thursday.
“In case the members of the European Parliament are not aware of it, may we remind them that their recommended actions already constitute interference in the affairs of a sovereign state,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary added.
Trillanes warned that the President’s defenders should bear in mind that they too will bear whatever penalties their principal is bound to receive in the end.
“As to the Duterte admin talking heads or defenders, they should familiarize themselves with the Rome Statute’s definition of crimes against humanity because it penalizes even the enablers of the said crime,” Trillanes said.
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