Categories
Commentary

Group slams Roque for belittling Callamard’s credentials

Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Execution, had strong words on the situation in the Philippines during an online forum “No lockdown on Rights” last May 29.

She said “the vulnerability of the people of the poorest individuals in our society, the homeless, those who live in a hand- to- mouth existence were not considered in the implementation of measures to stop Covid-19 resulting in increased systemic violence.”

In a statement posted by a certain Roger Dala on VERA Files’ Facebook page, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said, “Now, I’d like to say re-state the rule in international law: The use of force is not prohibited by the State provided it is necessary and it is proportional. And I think the kind of responses, the use of force that we have seen satisfied these criteria, if not, then appropriate cases are filed whether be it criminal or administrative which is the duty of the state in case of an alleged violation of the right to life.”

Roque also said he personally knows Callamard: “I know Professor Agnes, she’s not a specialist on extra-legal killings. She is a specialist on freedom of expression. It would have been better if the UN appointed an actual expert on extra-legal killings of the same caliber as Philip Alston.”

EcuVoice Philippines, which organized the May 29 webinar, reacted to Roque’s comment saying, “We at EcuVoice see nothing proportionate nor necessary in the use of force by state agents in the implementation of COVID-19 measures in the past three months. The observations raised by Callamard are all warranted and reasonable, based on the numerous cases reported before the public.”

EcuVoice also said they “condemn the disrespect shown by the presidential spokesperson to the UN Special Rapporteur in his attempt to rebuff her observations.”

“His inappropriate debasement of Callamard’s credentials is consistent with how the President has shunned and rejected international human rights protection mechanisms by resorting to ad hominem attacks. Such action has underscored the current administration’s utter and obvious disregard of well-established human rights mechanisms and standards,” they added.

***

Writer Pablo Tariman is very angry. After the House of Representatives railroaded the anti-terror bill, he wrote a poem, The Heart of Terror:

Terror is when

Basic decency leaves

The house of the people

Turned house of sycophants.

Terror is when you see poor elderlies

Turned away from train stations

After walking for hours.

Terror is when you see bureaucrats

Shamelessly pat themselves on TV

Only to see thousands

Stranded on the streets

Looking for rides

On their way to work.

Terror is when so called erudite

Men and women

Elbow each other

For a grand show

In the house of the people

While countless families beg for food

And beg for basic transport

For the day’s work.

Terror is when devout fathers

Get murdered on breakfast time

After days of death threats

While progressives are left for dead

In the highways of Ormoc.

You see the heart of terror

in insecure leaders

rendered coward and incompetent

by women who speak their minds.

One has long endured

The heart of terror

As we contemplate

Countrymen who lost jobs

And business establishments

Closing shop after the virus

Ended their sources of livelihood.

Terror is when you contemplate

14 days in jail without charges filed

And some council members

Resorting to red-tagging

When progressives expose

Their small minds.

We are living

In endless cycle of terror

Not just from the virus

But from the very men

Who are supposed to

Keep us all safe.

In this time of the pandemic

We continue to live

In endless cycle of terror

From within and from without.

It is ironic

The house of the people

Has turned into a house of fools

As millions go hungry

And hundreds get cremated

On their last hours

On earth.

The virus has metamorphosed

Into a vicious face of terror

In the house of the people.

The views in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.