(Eagle News)– The Palace on Saturday hit back at United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein after he said President Rodrigo Duterte needed to undergo a “psychiatric evaluation.”
“Your language was not just an insult to the Filipinos, but to all countries who have democratically elected their heads of states,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
He said that while Zeid, who is also the prince of Jordan, was a native of a country where there was no democracy, he should have been careful with his words as a language “directed against a democratically elected head of a UN member country is uncalled for and is an affront to the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines.”
“So my message to the High Commissioner is we respect the President of our country because we gave him a democratic mandate to lead, I hope, although you don’t have democracy in your own country, you would respect the kind of democracy we have,” Roque said.
Zeid on Friday said the President needed to undergo a psychiatric evaluation following his threats against the UN and its officials, including Agnes Callamard.
The President repeatedly hit the UN for what he said was its interference in Philippine affairs.