{"id":155215,"date":"2018-03-05T00:27:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T05:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=155215"},"modified":"2018-03-05T00:27:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T05:27:04","slug":"catholic-prelate-slams-duterte-over-order-to-ignore-un-rapporteurs-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/05\/catholic-prelate-slams-duterte-over-order-to-ignore-un-rapporteurs-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic prelate slams Duterte over order to ignore UN rapporteurs\u2019 probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his speech during the opening ceremony of the National Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Challenge at the Team Davao Inc. Pistol and Rifle Range in Ma-a, Davao City on March 1, 2018, expresses his admiration for the SWAT’s role in dealing with criminality, illegal drugs and terrorism. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Catholic bishop slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for ordering uniformed men not to answer questions coming from the United Nations (UN) rapporteurs who would conduct an investigation into the administration\u2019s anti-drug campaign.<\/p>\n

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said that Duterte is scared that there might be \u201cconscience-stricken\u201d police who will blurt out the truth on the increasing incidents of extrajudicial killings in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what Duterte is afraid of: that the policemen might tell the truth of EJK\u2019s and will therefore \u2018betray\u2019 the President!\u201d Bastes said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows, some policemen stricken by their conscience (might) tell the truth and reveal real crimes of killing innocent people without respect for the judicial process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

This statement came after Duterte directed soldiers and police officers to ignore questions from UN probers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPagdating ng<\/em>\u00a0human rights\u00a0o sino mang<\/em>\u00a0rapporteur\u00a0diyan, ang<\/em>\u00a0order\u00a0ko sa inyo<\/em>\u00a0(When human rights rapporteurs arrive, my order to you is) \u2014 Do not answer. Do not bother,\u201d the President said during the National Special Weapon and Tactics (swat) Challenge in Davao City on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we be answering \u2014\u00a0Bakit sino sila<\/em>\u00a0(Who are they)?\u00a0And who are you to interfere in the way I would run my country? You know very well that we are being swallowed by drugs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The prelate asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) not to follow this order, adding that Duterte\u2019s \u201cbad conscience\u201d is concealing the truth on the violations of human rights and the killings in the anti-drug campaign to come to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuterte is simply afraid to face the truth that through his authority the PNP has committed crimes against humanity,\u201d Bastes stressed.<\/p>\n

The Palace earlier said that it was open to an investigation by the UN, but clarified that it should not be done by special rapporteur Agnes Callamard. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that he would recommend another rapporteur who can conduct a probe on the controversial war on drugs.<\/p>\n

Despite this decision, Roque stressed that Callamard is still welcome in the Philippines, not as UN prober but as a tourist who will enjoy the beautiful sceneries of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome po siya dahil<\/em> (She is welcome because) after all, we welcome all tourists,\u201d the Palace official said.<\/p>\n

Roque added that Callamard must not make it look like that she is in the country to investigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya lang ang masama doon huwag niyang palalabasin na nag-imbestiga siya kasi ang pagpasok sa Pilipinas, hindi naman po iyan katumbas ng pag-iimbestiga <\/em>(But she must not make it appear that she is here to investigate because entering the Philippines is not equivalent to conducting inquiry),\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo kung siya po ay papasok sabihin niya, nagkaroon siya ng obserbasyon bilang turista <\/em>(So if she would come here, she should say that she is having an observation as a tourist),\u201d<\/em> he continued.<\/p>\n

In September 2017, the Philippine government also turned down Ghana\u2019s recommendation to have Callamard to come to the country and look into the said killings allegedly brought by the drug war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Catholic bishop slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for ordering uniformed men not to answer questions coming from the United Nations …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":155219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[13135,29790,47656],"class_list":["post-155215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-sorsogon-bishop-arturo-bastes","tag-un-probe","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}