Roque says no evidence Duterte is behind drug killings

MANILA, Philippines — There is no evidence that President Rodrigo Duterte is behind the drug-related killings allegedly attending the government's ferocious campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, his recently appointed spokesperson claimed.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that as a lawyer he could say that there was no evidence to point to the complicity of Duterte in the mounting number of supposed drug-related killings and human rights abuses in the conduct of the administration's drug war.

He added that there was also no proof that the government and its security services had been remiss in their duty to investigate and prosecute the people behind drug-related deaths which human rights groups claimed had already reached at least 12,000, a charge that authorities denied.

"The perception is he's behind the killings. I'm here to tell them as a lawyer that there's no evidence that he ordered the killing, and there's no evidence that we’re in any way in breach of our obligation to investigate and to prosecute," Roque said in an interview on ANC.

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He said that he could not imagine a lawyer who had experienced being a prosecutor for 10 years such as Duterte who would openly admit that he would violate the law.

Roque also doused issues that his image as a human rights lawyer would pose a conflict of interest in his new position as the new presidential spokesman, the person primarily responsible to explain and clarify the pronouncements of the chief executive.

"I cannot imagine, I cannot fathom outside of the president's theatrics I cannot fathom a prosecutor who will openly admit that he wants to violate the law," he stated during the interview.

He said that he would not have accepted the position if Duterte did not clarify that he was against illegal killings of suspects especially teenagers.

He added that Duterte's denunciation of the killings of teenagers and other innocent people would show that the chief executive was "in compliance" with the country's obligations on human rights.

"I probably would not have accepted this post had not the president clarified his position immediately after Kian's killing. But with the pronouncement of the president, he is completely in compliance with our state obligations on human rights, to protect and promote the right to life," Roque said.

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Roque is known for handling sensational and human rights cases such as those of Jennifer Laude, the families of the victims of the Ampatuan massacre and journalist and environmental activist Jerry Ortega.

He replaced Ernesto Abella after Duterte was reportedly dismissed by the former spokesman's handling of the dive in his satisfaction ratings and his misdirected tirades against the European Union.

He also reiterated that his position against the reimposition of the death penalty and the lowering of the criminal age of responsibility remained even if the chief executive and his allies in Congress were publicly pushing for these initiatives.

Despite his opposition to some programs, his job as the president's spokesperson was to "mouth" the president's positions.

"I will be [the] spokesperson, so I will have to mouth the President’s positions on these issues. So I will say, 'The President supports the death penalty.' Now is that my personal belief? No," Roque emphasized, adding that his voting record against these proposed measures would speak for itself.

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Roque added that it was not his job to argue with the president over his policies, saying that his responsibility is to state the Duterte's policies and to provide "legal context" in case he is misconstrued.

"I think that's my primary marching order now," he said.