Malacañang has slammed the annual Amnesty International (AI) report which it considered as a "cut-and-paste collection of recycled issues and arguments" on human rights violations in the country used by critics of the Duterte administration.
In its report for 2021 to 2022, the AI said the lack of accountability continued to facilitate unlawful killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines under the administration's war on drugs.
The human rights watchdog also lamented that human rights defenders, political activists, and politicians were subjected to unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment.
However, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar argued that AI's findings are false and were "never vetted" by the Philippines government to authenticate the information.
"The absence of such vetting relegates AI's report to a mere false rehash. And that especially includes its false narratives on the current government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign and issues surrounding Maria Ressa and Senator Leila de Lima, all of which have been previously answered," Andanar said on Tuesday, March 29.
"Sadly, without the benefit of fact-checking, AI even referred government's COVID-19 response as 'mishandling,' which is far from the truth as all regions in the Philippines are presently at minimal risk case classification," he added.
Meanwhile, Andanar reiterated that the Philippine government was committed to promoting and protecting human rights, adding that it remains open to engagements with stakeholders.
"We ask AI to sit down with government to clarify whatever concerns them, valid issues or otherwise. Offhand, we urge them to engage with the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat so that matters are properly discussed and resolved," Andanar said.
"In all this, let it not be missed out, especially by AI, that the Philippines’ election to a fifth term in the United Nations Human Rights Council is a recognition by this global body of the Philippine government’s faithful adherence to promoting, protecting, and fulfilling the human rights of the Filipino people," he added.