The Philippine foreign minister told the UN rights council on Monday that Manila would “destroy criminals” in a defiant defense of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
“There can be no middle ground for the well-being of our people. We will not be kind,” Perfecto Yasay told the opening of the 47-member council’s main annual session in Geneva.
“We will not hesitate to destroy criminals who seek the wholesale destruction of our society,” he added.
“It is lamentable that international observers are more focused on the so-called human rights of criminals but have done nothing to help in eliminating the drug problem that has grown to pandemic proportions,” Yasay said.
The UN rights office said it was “very concerned” about the arrest and was watching the situation “very closely.”
Recently, four Philippine legislators who supported a staunch critic of Duterte’s war on drugs lost important positions in the Senate, drawing political lines in the upper house in a tightening of the president’s grip on power.
In a motion led by Sen. Manny Pacquiao, a famous boxing champion and close ally of Duterte, three senators lost their leadership of house committees and one was ousted as pro-tempore, the Senate’s second highest position.
All four had backed Sen. Leila de Lima, the chief critic of Duterte’s anti-narcotics crackdown, who since Friday has been remanded in police custody on drug-related charges.
De Lima, a former human rights commissioner, has said she is innocent and her arrest was an act of revenge for her decade-long efforts to expose Duterte as the leader of death squads during his time as mayor of southern Davao city.
Political observers said the sudden realignment indicated moves by Duterte to strengthen his control over the powerful 24-seat Senate. Dozens of lawmakers in the lower house have switched loyalties to his party since he took office last year.
The four senators who lost their posts had attended a rally on Saturday to mark 31 years since the “People Power” uprising that removed dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The demonstration turned into a march to denounce the war on drugs.
More than 7,700 people have died since Duterte unleashed his bloody campaign eight months ago, a third in police raids and sting operations. The authorities deny activists’ claims that many of the other deaths were extrajudicial killings.
“If this is the price to pay for showing up at the streets ... for talking about democracy, if this is the price to pay, I’d gladly pay,” said Paolo Benigno Aquino, who was voted out as head of the Senate education committee.

Source: Arab News