Roque questions Callamard’s qualifications on extrajudicial killings cases

January 2, 2018

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque questioned on Tuesday the qualifications of United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard, saying she is not an expert on such field.

In a radio interview, Roque said he knows Callamard is an expert on freedom of expression.

"I couldn't understand why Agnes Callamard is an expert against illegal killing because I know her. Her expertise is freedom of expression...for her to be a special rapporteur against extrajudicial killing, I don't know what her special qualification is," Roque said.

He said Callamard does not face the court, prosecute criminal and murder case, and no special research on extralegal killing.

Roque criticized Callamard after she defended Filipino UN special rapporteurs Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an expert on the rights of indigenous peoples, and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, an expert on internally displaced people.

Roque earlier said Corpuz and Damary, both Filipinos,  should be more circumspect on their statements given that they were elected to their post during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.

The two Filipino special rapporteurs expressed belief that human rights abuses against the indigenous peoples could worsen following the extension of martial law in Mindanao from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018.

Callamard commended the two Filipinos for  implementing their mandates independently, impartially, accurately, and courageously.

"We will not be silenced by lies nor intimidated by anyone’s bully pulpit," she said in a statement, noting that Roque failed again from his facts for saying that the two special rapporteurs were elected to their posts during the Aquino administration.

Roque said Corpuz and Damary could not become special rapporteurs if they were not nominated by the country.

"No one from the UN could get a post without being nominated by his/her country. That's why the process is political," he said.

Callamard has been criticizing the killings of drug suspects in the country.

President Rodrigo Duterte has refused Callamard's request to conduct an investigation in the Philippines about the extrajudicial killings unless she would heed to his conditions, such as conducting public debate. Celerina Monte/DMS