(Eagle News) — The Palace on Friday, July 20, denied Amnesty International, after the group said President Rodrigo Duterte had made the country “a far more dangerous” place.
“There is no truth to the statement of Amnesty International that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has made the Philippines ‘a far more dangerous place,’” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
According to Roque, the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, for instance, was conducted through “legitimate police enforcement operations.”
He said that deaths related to the drug war were the result of “the drug personalities’ violent resistance to lawful apprehensions.”
“As a member of the bar, the President has prosecuted murder as a capital offense. He, therefore, does not and will never condone extralegal killings, as he maintains zero tolerance for erring policemen who digress from standard protocols and abuse their power,” he said.
In a recent statement, AI section director Jose Noel Olano said the Duterte administration “does not know how to listen.”
He alleged that Duterte’s human rights agenda has been “on a downward spiral” since 2016, his first State of the Nation Address.
“[I]mpunity and lack of accountability have been shamelessly displayed at almost all levels of his administration, failing to meet its basic job to protect the Filipino people including meeting their basic economic needs and civil liberties,” the AI said.