Joma: Duterte showed no remorse in SONA
EXILED Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Tuesday slammed President Rodrigo Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) for showing “no remorse” in not fulfilling his promises and not addressing the termination of the peace talks.
“[The SONA] shows no remorse for his glaring non-fulfillment of electoral promises and his gross aggravation of the problems that afflict the people,” Sison said in a statement.
The non-inclusion of Proclamation 360, which Duterte signed last year to formally terminate the peace talks, also signifies the President’s insincerity in addressing the armed conflict, he said.
“He does not want to address the roots of the armed conflict through comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms in order to lay the basis for a just and lasting peace,” the communist leader said.
Human rights advocates expressed their disappointment over President Duterte’s statement that pitted “human rights” versus “human lives.”
“If you think I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight with your protests, then you got it all. Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives,” Duterte said in his 48-minute speech, addressing rights activists.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said there should be no distinction between human rights and human lives.
“There is in fact no distinction between human rights and human lives. We are supportive of all the rights he has urged Congress to advance while we remain steadfast that the campaign against drugs should not be at the expense of human lives,” CHR said in a statement.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay on Tuesday also said the two are not mutually exclusive.
“The very essence of what human rights are for is to aid individuals to attain a life with dignity, anchored on their being productive members of the society,” Palabay said.
Rachel Howard of Amnesty International Philippines said Duterte’s statement toward rights groups was a “classic diversionary tactic of rights abusers” over the world.
Carlos Conde of the Human Rights Watch Asia division said the President’s promise to pursue the drug war relentlessly could only mean more suffering for the poor Filipinos.
Citing research by Human Rights Watch, he said more than 4,500 people have been killed in the anti-drug operations of the Philippine National Police from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2018.
“Most of these killings have occurred in impoverished areas of Metro Manila, but there has been an increase in killings in Cebu and other cities,” Conde said.
WITH MARY GLEEFER JALEA
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