Calls on “donor governments” to “intensify pressure” on Duterte
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration has “heightened its repression” in 2018 so “donor governments should intensify pressure” on the chief executive, the Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
According to the group, the government’s “murderous ‘war on drugs'” has “expanded to cities outside Manila,” while “attacks against activists, journalists and critics of the government” continue.
“President Duterte has used the killing of thousands of largely poor suspects as a tool to bolster his popularity,” Brad Adams, HRW Asia director, said.
According to Adams, Duterte was also “targeting anyone who might undermine that popularity, from outspoken senators to journalists documenting his abuses.”
For instance, HRW noted that the administration has “stepped up its attacks against ‘drug war’ critics, including activist groups, the Catholic church,” among others.
In December, it noted that authorities “brought politically motivated charges for tax evasion against the critical news website Rappler and its editor, Maria Ressa,” Senator Leila de Lima has remained in jail since her arrest in February 2017 on “trumped up drug charges,” and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was “also threatened with arrest in September for criticizing Duterte.”
HRW also noted that in May, the Supreme Court ousted then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno “for her criticism of the ‘drug war’ and other policies of the Duterte administration.”
According to the group, there were “two rare triumphs of accountability in the Philippines in 2018.”
One was the conviction in September of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and two others for the 2006 kidnapping and illegal detention of two student activists, and the other the conviction of three police officers for the August 2017 murder of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos
“President Duterte has provided no indication of any letup in his murderous drug war. Foreign donors should support efforts by Philippine institutions, groups and the media who are pressing the government to stop the killings and bring those responsible to justice,” Adams said.
President Duterte has stood by his popular drug war, noting there was a need to rid the country of the “menace” threatening the future of children.
While he has expressed support for policemen who target drug suspects but are injured or killed in the performance of their duties, he has publicly lashed out at policemen who use the drug war as a pretext to commit crimes.
The Palace has also denied it was after administration critics, noting that the charges filed against De Lima, Trillanes, Ressa, for instance, were legitimate.