By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte seems to have found an unlikely “lawyer” in the head of a presidential interagency panel on human rights.
This surfaced on Wednesday as Undersecretary Severo Catura, executive director of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), said the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the drug war of the Duterte administration will not prosper.
“Hindi pwedeng mag-prosper kasi ang ganyang kaso unless na you ask that very important question na, wala ka bang justice system sa inyong bansa para maaksyunan ang lahat ng ito,” Catura said during a press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
It was learned that the PHRC is mandated to advise the President on all human rights concerns and issues. The executive secretary serves as the committee chair, while the secretaries of Justice and Foreign Affairs are vice chairpersons.
Under Duterte’s drug war, at least 6,200 suspects were killed in police operations, according to government records.
But this was contradicted by human rights groups which claimed the actual death toll could be from 12,000 to 30,000.
(el Amigo/MNM)
