Callamard is not persona non grata: Palace

FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – Malacanang does not consider United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard ‘persona non grata’ despite its opposition for her to investigate the Philippines’drug war.

In a press briefing in Tarlac Friday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque maintained though that Callamard has no more credibility to investigate since she has concluded that the Philippines’ war on drugs would worsen the problem.

Callamard made the comment when she visited the Philippines in May 2017 at the invitation of a group critical of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“Why would she be welcomed to investigate here when she had already made (a) conclusion without investigation? That’s why she is not welcome. She should go to other countries that will accept her,” Roque said.

Roque, a presidential adviser on human rights, even gave Callamard a failing mark on her credibility as special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“Pero itong si Callamard po kung bibigyan mo ng grado pagdating doon sa puwede ba siyang pagkatiwalaan, bagsak! Singko, singko ang grade! Hindi po siya pinagkakatiwalaan; at dagok po iyan hindi lang sa kaniyang propesyunal na standing, sa kaniyang pagkatao na rin (If I give Callamard a grade on whether she can be trusted, she failed! Five, her grade is five. She cannot be trusted, and that’s a blow not only to her professional standing but to her personality as well),” he said.

Roque had earlier said that if the UN would send a special rapporteur, “it must be someone credible, someone who is an authority in the field that they seek to investigate and must be objective and unbiased”.

On Duterte’s order to policemen not to cooperate with the UN rapporteur, Roque said the President might be referring to Callamard.

“So maybe if there is another special rapporteur, they can (cooperate),” he said.

Meanwhile, Roque confirmed during the press conference that the government is looking into the money trail of illegal drugs sold by drug syndicates in the country.

“Definitely! We are using our anti-money laundering law to ensure that drug lords do not benefit from their illegal drug trade. So I confirm that,” he said.