ZAMBOANGA CITY—President Duterte on Saturday ordered soldiers and police not to answer questions from human rights investigators, saying their silence was constitutionally protected and this would avoid conflicting statements. Mr. Duterte and his spokesperson Harry Roque said Callamard was biased because of her early criticisms of the bloody antidrug campaign. “Do not answer questions from them and that is for a reason,” Duterte told troops in a speech at the Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City on Saturday. That is provided for in Constitution itself, our Constitution,” he said of keeping silent. Their answers to investigators’ questions would then be “convoluted, mixed up and that places us in jeopardy,” he said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 10, 2018 17:59 UTC