CPP denies it is behind UNHRC resolution to probe drug war

From GMA News Online (Jul 13, 2019): CPP denies it is behind UNHRC resolution to probe drug war

The Communist Party of the Philippines on Friday denied the allegation by Philippine National Police chief Police General Oscar Albayalde that it is behind the United Nations Human Rights Council's move to investigate the government's war on drugs.

"The statement of the PNP Chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde that the CPP is behind the UNHRC resolution is extremely laughable and shows the extent to which Duterte's minions would invent scenarios and act stupid in their desperation to keep the truth from coming out," the CPP said in a statement posted on the National Democratic Front of the Philippines' website.

"In their anti-communist delusion, Duterte's minions have resorted to red-tagging even the UNHRC itself," it added.

Albayalde said on Friday that the CPP and its armed wing, the New People's Army, could be behind the UNHRC's move to adopt a resolution seeking a probe into the government's drug war.

"Possible, it's because it's part of propaganda. Also, and you know, 'yung CPP-NPA is so against the Duterte administration now," Albayalde suggested on Friday said.

The PNP chief added that it is possible for the Philippine communist group to have such an influence on UNHCR because it has "contacts and connections."

The UNHRC voted on Thursday to set up a probe into the thousands of killings in the government's war on drugs.

The CPP added it welcomes the UNHRC resolution, saying the mass killings "tactic" against drug suspects and its effect "is now being widely used against the patriotic and democratic forces and against all forms of opposition to stifle dissent and put down the people’s resistance and stifle their demand for justice."

The party also said Duterte's claiming national sovereignty over the matter is "utterly hypocritical and self-serving" since "at the same time, it conveniently sets aside the sovereignty and national patrimony questions in the face of China’s intrusions into the Philippine exclusive economic zone and maritime territory, as well as presence of US military troops in the country.

"Duterte makes false claims the UNHRC resolution violates Philippine national sovereignty. The bigger question is how Duterte seeks to suppress the people’s sovereign power, their demand for an end to the mass killings and a stop to Duterte’s tyrannical abuse of power," the CPP added.

President Rodrigo Duterte can bar UN investigators from entering the country if he finds no basis for them to conduct a probe into the human rights situations in the Philippines, Malacañang said on Friday.

Duterte on Thursday vowed to study whether to allow UN investigators in the Philippines to investigate the deaths linked to his war on drugs and other human rights concerns.

He also said the critics of the drug war did not have a full grasp of the social, economic and political problems of the Philippines.

The CPP also said the UNHRC resolution will be of help to the struggle to defend Filipinos' rights and civil liberties.

"The UNHRC resolution will surely boost the Filipino people’s struggle to defend their rights and civil liberties. The people will surely welcome the representative and investigators of the UNHRC and provide them will all the support and security," it said.

Albayalde also said the Philippines does not need an international body to look into the thousands of drug war deaths as the country's own Commission of Human Rights is capable of investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who was PNP chief when the war on drugs started in 2016, dared the UNHRC to investigate the alleged 22,000 drug-related deaths under the Duterte administration not as a "lump" of cases but "one by one."

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/700881/cpp-denies-it-is-behind-unhrc-resolution-to-probe-drug-war/story/