Malacañang welcomed yesterday reports that the United Nations send an 18-man team to the Philippines on Sept. 28 to 29 to conduct a review of the human rights situation in the country. However, President Duterte will be in Vietnam for a working visit on those dates.
The President had challenged UN representatives and other foreign critic to a debate and come to see the situation in the country for themselves.
Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said that the UN team could "come over and look into the alleged human rights concerns -- a clear manifestation that this administration has nothing to hide before the international community."
The UN team's visit was announced amid Duterte's constant outbursts against the international community for calling his attention to rising cases of summary executions believed to be carried out by security forces and vigilantes in the conduct of his intensified war against illegal drugs.
The UN experts are from the UN Committee on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights. As one of the 164 state signatories to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Philippines is required to undergo regular review by the UN committee.
"Although the Philippines welcome any UN observer and will listen to what they have to say, they should also listen to what we have to say, both in the spirit of mutual respect and out of genuine recognition of our status as a sovereign nation," Andanar said.
Source: Philippine Star
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