Duterte invites UN rights body to set up office in PH

In this photo, taken Aug. 21, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte holds a press conference in Malacañang Palace. (Photo from an RTVM video)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday invited the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up a satellite office in the Philippines to monitor police operations and possible abuses in the performance of their duties.

Duterte made the invitation a week after the House of Representatives voted give the Commission on Human Rights a budget of P1,000 budget in 2018.

“Yung kay [CHR Chairperson Chito] Gascon, sabihin ko na lang sa House of Representatives, I will personally, through an official channel, invite the human rights commission of the United Nations to set up a satellite office here,” Duterte told reporters after visiting the wake of SPO1 Junior Hilario, a member of Caloocan City who was killed in anti-illegal drug operations last Friday.

The President said the UN rights body could allow its investigator to join police operations.

“Lahat ng operation ng pulis, they will embed an investigator. Magpasok sila ng kasama sa pulis, wala ako problema diyan,” he said.

“Ako pa ang mag-provide ng opisina ng human rights commission ng United Nations,” he added. “Sila ang maglagay ng tao every station. Every operation, sabihin ko sa mga station commanders sa pulis, PNP: ‘Do not operate without the human rights commission ng United Nations. And everybody must wear a camera’.”

The UN and the Commission on Human Rights have earned the ire of Duterte for their criticisms on his administration’s brutal war on drugs.

The President reiterated that he would prefer to use the proposed P678 million budget for CHR to buy body cameras for police officers to wear operations.

“With that P600 million, I can buy all the cameras in the world for every policeman to wear,” he said.

“If the House will insist na ayaw talaga nilang bigyan, eh ‘di sabihin ko: ‘Ibigay mo na lang sa akin to improve the police.’ Performance. Camera, mga sasakyan bago. Eh mga luma na rin,” he added. /atm