President Duterte will leave office with PH ‘safe, secure’: Palace

Acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar (File photo)

MANILA – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his administration will be stepping down from office with confidence that the Philippines is “safe and secure,” Malacañang said Wednesday.

This, after the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Duterte will leave a government that has failed to fulfill its obligations to protect human rights and has “encouraged a culture of impunity.”

“In contrast to what a handful of critiques would want the international community to hear and read about our country, the Duterte Administration leaves a legacy of a safe and secure Philippines,” acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a press statement.

The 48-page report was completed in April by CHR commissioners whose seven-year terms expired on May 5.

The CHR report, which was released this week, found the Duterte government has incited a “culture of impunity” by stonewalling on independent inquiries and refusing to bring to trial the police officers implicated in the supposed wrongdoings in the conduct of anti-drug operations.

The report presented around 882 drug-related cases involving 1,139 victims. Twenty-three percent of the drug-related deaths were examined by the CHR from 2016 to 2021.

The CHR reported that cops had used “excessive and disproportionate force” in most of the cases, contrary to their standard claims of self-defense.

It also revealed that 73 percent of 511 victims who allegedly resisted arrest had been killed by gunshots to the head and torso, as well as multiple gunshot wounds.

Andanar merely dismissed the CHR report as a “rehash of old issues.”

Contradicting the report, Andanar said foreign nationals visiting the country are even seeing “how safe our streets and communities are.”

He also cited that the crime rate in the country has dropped since Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016.

Duterte, he added, is even enjoying “high satisfaction, performance, approval and trust ratings at the end of his presidency.”

“We are pleased that this body (CHR) has independently exercised its mandate -- a testament to how the Duterte Administration has allowed our democratic civic space to be enriched under his term,” Andanar said.

Andanar encouraged the CHR to coordinate with the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat for the commission to discuss its recommendations with concerned government offices. (PNA)

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