UN bid by Duterte spokesman sparks outrage in Philippines

UN bid by Duterte spokesman sparks outrage in Philippines

A senior official with the Philippine Church’s social arm has joined rights and law groups in the country in calling on the United Nations to block a bid by President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman to get a job with its International Law Commission (ILC).

The nomination of lawyer and Duterte spokesman Harry Roque was not only a disservice to the country but a contradiction to what the UN body was fighting for, Father Antonio Labiao, Jr, executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, said on Nov. 1.

The ILC is responsible for developing international law including international human rights law. Its 34 members are elected by the UN General Assembly every five years.

According to Father Labiao, Roque’s nomination should be rejected considering his record of defending Duterte’s human rights violations in his drug war which rights groups say has killed thousands.

“The nomination … is not only a disservice to the Filipino people but a blatant betrayal to the very principles of justice and common good that we adhere to,” he said in a post on Caritas Philippines’ Facebook page.

The Confederation of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific also spoke out against Roque’s nomination. It said he has been “instrumental in propping up the regime of President Duterte with all its human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, disdain for the rule of law and contempt against UN human rights bodies like the International Criminal Court.”

The group said its members would lobby their respective governments “to prevent a mockery of international law by not giving him their votes.”

Roque, meanwhile, met with protests from members of Bayan, an alliance of 20 progressive Filipino left-wing groups, in New York on Oct. 29. Some reportedly burst in on a meeting he was having with representatives of several foreign missions at a Manhattan restaurant. Roque was in New York to promote his bid to become an ILC member.

Protesters went to the restaurant “to expose the blood on Roque’s hands as the spokesperson for Duterte’s fascist regime,” the group said in a statement posted on social media.  

“Harry Roque spews lies and spins the facts of his shameful government. This is consistent with Harry Roque’s work as Duterte’s mouthpiece: spin lies and divert issues.” 

Roque later condemned the protesters’ actions. “The militant groups were not content to peacefully rally outside the restaurant, they charged upstairs, in the process injuring two elderly waiters and causing damage to property. The restaurant also informed us that they also ordered food and beverages but did not pay for them,” he said on Nov. 2.