ADVERTISEMENTIn response, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Duterte administration has shown that it would never condone extrajudicial killings and human rights violations and that it had investigated and punished erring police officers. The special rapporteurs also decried the harassment of human rights defenders and legal personalities working on drug war cases. Open, transparentCommission on Human Rights (CHR) Chair Chito Gascon called on the government to be open and transparent by inviting UN investigators. “We call on the government to stop this cavalier, dismissive attitude to the human rights system and instead to cooperate fully with them, particularly since we just concluded our [UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review] and [the Philippines’] human rights record [was] put to question at the global stage,” Gascon said. Free legal representationAlso on Friday, the IBP and the CHR signed a memorandum of agreement to provide free legal representation to victims of human rights violations.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 24, 2017 21:45 UTC