QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — A party-list lawmaker expressed his disagreement to calls of protest groups to declare United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard as persona non grata.
AKO Bicol party-list Representative Rodel Batocabe said that this move would only result in image problems for the Philippines, and would cast doubt on the country’s democracy.
Batocabe said that Callamard should be allowed to express her opinions so government can rebut them.
Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, made an unannounced visit to the country and spoke at a policy forum at the University of the Philippines where she criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.