{"id":156148,"date":"2018-03-12T06:29:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T10:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=156148"},"modified":"2018-03-12T06:29:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T10:29:23","slug":"ph-govt-open-to-neutral-special-rapporteurs-from-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/12\/ph-govt-open-to-neutral-special-rapporteurs-from-un\/","title":{"rendered":"PH gov\u2019t open to \u2018neutral\u2019 special rapporteurs from UN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, Jr. (PCOO Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amid heated arguments between President Rodrigo Duterte and United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for human rights chief Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Husein, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the Philippine government still welcomes special rapporteurs to visit the country and conduct a probe as long as they are neutral investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome special rapporteurs provided they be impartial, neutral and willing to investigate, rather than those already having conclusions and wanting to justify them through an investigation,\u201d Roque said in a Palace news conference on Monday, March 12.<\/p>\n

Roque\u2019s statement came after Zeid suggested that Duterte needs to see a psychiatrist, and Duterte threatening to feed to crocodiles any special rapporteur from UN who will come to the country to investigate his campaign against illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

Despite saying that the UN commissioner\u2019s pronouncement was \u201cuncalled for,” Malaca\u00f1ang said this will not affect the openness of the country to let UN rapporteur investigate the killings linked to the administration\u2019s war on drugs and alleged human rights violations.<\/p>\n

The spokesman also reiterated that the remark made by Zeid against the Chief Executive was unacceptable and was an insult to the nation\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the matter of the statement by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights is being treated very seriously. It\u2019s being treated as a diplomatic affront. It\u2019s wholly unacceptable,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, said that such statement will not be a reason to not allow UN probers to conduct an investigation in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the comments are wholly unacceptable. And I would say that for now, there are already communications between no less than the UN Secretary-General and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs,\u201d the Palace official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say that that kind of a comment is not conducive to having further investigations on the Philippines by any special rapporteur. But as I said, the communications are ongoing, let\u2019s see what happens,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

In a news conference last Friday, Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein recommended that Duterte should undergo a psychiatric evaluation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese attacks cannot go unanswered, the UN Human Rights Council must take a position,\u201d Zeid said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes one believe that the president needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric examination. This kind of comment is unacceptable, unacceptable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of Duterte\u2019s staunchest critics, agreed to this remark, noting that this psychiatric evaluation will be for the safety of the whole Filipino nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the sake of the safety and well-being of the entire Filipino nation whose lives are subjected to his power, I call on Duterte to prove that he has a sound mental health by going through a psychiatric evaluation,\u201d Trillanes said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He added that Duterte\u2019s \u201cmurderous and erratic ways plus his crass, twisted and perverted\u201d remarks are indications of a \u201cdeeply sick mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid heated arguments between President Rodrigo Duterte and United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for human rights chief Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Husein, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[978,31449,47660],"class_list":["post-156148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-malacanang","tag-presidential-spokesperson-harry-roque","tag-un-special-rapporteurs","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156148","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=156148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}