Malacañang has assailed the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) after it called for global Magnitsky sanctions on the so-called "Dirty Dozen" of rights violators in the country including President Duterte.
In a statement on Thursday, March 31, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the sole objective of the ICHRP for campaigning to enforce the Magnitsky Law against government officials is only to "name and shame" the Philippines before the international community.
"It is baffling how it has come up with allegations of human rights violations of the Philippine government without validating the same with the appropriate authorities," Andanar said.
The PCOO chief also assured the public that the government is serious in addressing issues on human rights violations and abuses in the Philippines.
"We keep our doors wide open to this group for substantive and productive engagements," he said.
"This would spare them from being a laughingstock among States that know better what is really going on in our country. Moreover, the Magnitsky Act must be protected from such misuse in this regard," Andanar added.
According to the ICHRP, the Magnitsky campaign is a follow-up to the work of Investigate PH Commission which identified patterns of "gross and systemic human rights violations including crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Duterte regime."
Aside from Duterte, the coalition is calling for sanctions on Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Gen. Debold Sinas, Gen. Jose Faustino Jr., Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Sec. Eduardo Año, Sen. Bong Go, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy.
Once imposed, the Magnitsky law authorizes the US government to sanction deemed rights violators, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the United States.
The US was the first to enact a Magnitsky law in 2012 which was named after Russian lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky who exposed corruption among Russian government officials. He was jailed in 2008 and later died in 2009 days before his release.
The Amnesty International earlier released its report for 2021 to 2022 which said that 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.