President Rodrigo Duterte bravely challenged the United Nations (UN) rapporteurs, the European Union (EU), and even U.S. President Barack Obama to come to the Philippines to investigate the spate of extrajudicial killings, but it seems that the country’s protocols for the investigation will be tricky.
According to Foreign Affairs assistant secretary and spokesman Charles Jose, the Philippine government and the investigating body must first agree on certain details before the investigation is approved.
“Merong sinusunod na protocol yung mga UN special rapporteurs sa pagpunta nila sa ibang bansa sa pag-conduct ng investigation at yun din ang susundin dito, yung agreed protocol na iyon, ” Jose told the Manila Bulletin.
(UN special rapporteurs follow a certain protocol when they go to other countries to conduct an investigation and they will follow the same protocol here, that same agreed protocol.)
READ: UN team of 18 human rights experts coming to PH next week
Jose said that the government can demand for the names of locations and persons the UN plans to review or investigate. Once the government gives them the approval and its own set of protocols, that’s the only time the investigation can officially begin.
“These organizations need to agree to the protocols and parameters that we will set before they are allowed to visit the country,” Jose said in a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
This might be problematic in the case that the UN proposes to interview someone close to the president and his men, or if they decide to take a peek at the controversial Laud quarry in Davao City.
Earlier this week, Duterte himself had his drug list “re-validated” when he saw the names of his close friends and former classmates in the list — people he “never imagined” would be involved in illegal drugs.
If he is willing to question his own team’s intelligence report, how much more pressure would there be for an international organization like the UN?
READ: PH to world: Do not interfere with our domestic challenges
Jose added executive secretary Salvador Medialdea is currently drafting the letter of invitation for the UN and the EU, as instructed by Duterte.
Other details of the agreed protocol will be determined once the formal invitation has been sent out and the EU and UN have responded.
“Hihintayin natin ang letter na ipadadala, yung invitation, saka natin makikita kung ano ang magiging parameters ng investigation na gagawin nila,” Jose said.
(We will wait for the letter to be sent, the invitation, and only then we will find out the other parameters of the investigation they will be conducting.)
