Presidential bets asked: How important are human rights?
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirants at the second round of the Commission on Elections' Presidential Debates on Sunday night were asked: How important are human rights in the Philippines?
Bets presented mixed stances on the issues of red-tagging by the government's anti-communist task force and extrajudicial killings in the conduct of the administration's flagship 'war on drugs'.
Here's a rundown on what they had to say.
Labor leader Leody de Guzman highlighted the need to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying it justifies the human rights violations of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
"The barbarism of early times should already be over...we need to give better recognition to human rights. We can't accept the present government's 'Kill, Kill, Kill' marching order against those critical of it," De Guzman said in Filipino.
He also hit the red-tagging National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, repeating his campaign promise to abolish it if elected.
Vice President Leni Robredo said that if elected, she would revisit the Dangerous Drugs Act and adopt best practices from around the world in dealing with illegal drugs.
She pointed out that case students in the international community have proven that campaigns to kill drug personalities have not ended the drug problem in most countries.
"Our human rights are inherent and inalienable...Perhaps they aren't close to home for Filipinos because they aren't widely understood," the vice president said.
Robredo said that during her time as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs, she saw that the focus of the administration's so-called 'war on drugs' was largely on street-level enforcement.
"We need to give attention to supply constriction...What we need is community and institutional rehabilitation. The pushers are the ones who need to be penalized," she also said in Filipino.
Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson in his rebuttal took the opportunity to defend the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying it includes a provision against police officers caught using the law's provisions to violate human rights.
"No other law has that provision. This one really took care to safeguard human rights," he said in Filipino. "It's unpopular, but it's a very good law."
To recall, Lacson sponsored the controversial law and in November 2020, backed the proposed budget of the NTF-ELCAC.
On Sunday he claimed that in the Global Terrorism Index, the Philippines improved from the ninth spot in 2019 to 16th spot in 2021.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao claimed, without proof, that drug smuggling is picking up in the Philippines because syndicates know that President Rodrigo Duterte's term is ending.
"Human rights is important, but let's remember that if it's excessive and the law is breaking...we really need to jail those bringing drugs into the country," he said in Filipino before trailing off.
"The war on drugs will continue, but I won't kill the users. I will kill and even publicize the ones bringing drugs into the country...Of course, we won't tolerate extrajudicial killings. The cops who abuse human rights, let's penalize them. But if I'm the president I also have to protect our police and military, because they keep us secure. Let's balance things."
Doctor and lawyer Jose Montemayor had a particularly scathing answer to the question of human rights in the Philippines, saying the reality of extra-judicial killings and red-tagging are an open secret that the government can no longer deny.
"You don't need further investigation to affirm it...the thing speaks for itself. Nobody will deny that. If you need further investigation, wait until the end of the Duterte administration. The police themselves will admit that there are," he said in mixed Filipino and English.
"The government is committing human rights violations right and left."
He added that despite the section the Supreme Court struck down from the Anti-Terror Law, the latter still "remains as a red-tagging instrument."
"Meron pa bang due process ngayon? Wala na! Red-tagging is rampant. Students and children, they just get involved in left-leaning organizations, they're red-tagged already."
The "medical doctor" went on to claim that among the government's human rights violations is its program of mandatory vaccination. At the first round of debates, Montemayor also claimed that “vaccination will expose you to infection," a claim that Philstar.com fact-checked.
Duterte's 'war on drugs'
Under President Rodrigo Duterte's flagship campaign against illegal narcotics, official police figures acknowledge at least 6,117 deaths in anti-drug operations since July 2016.
Police leadership earlier claimed the number was as high as 8,000 but eventually dialed this back by thousands without explanation. However, rights groups both here and abroad say the real number may be as high as 30,000.
Despite an uptick in killings and operations during the coronavirus pandemic, government data compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that crystal methamphetamines or shabu were still found to be behind the most arrest and treatment admissions in the country in 2020.
Duterte won the presidency in 2016 on, among other things, promises of dealing with illegal drugs within six months. He failed to meet this self-imposed deadline and eventually asked the public for a six-month extension that he also failed to meet.
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