Undersecretary Severo Catura of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat. (PNA File photo)
MANILA – As a Philippine delegation composed of non-government organizations (NGOs) gears up to raise alarm against what they claim to be a “sham drug war” of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, government officials are braced to be purveyors of truth in the ongoing 42nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to Undersecretary Severo Catura of the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat, amid the challenges while gaining more and more allies to the cause of human rights in good governance, the Philippine government continues to deal with NGOs that are rabid critics of President Duterte and whose handful of members make it a point to propagate fake information on alleged human rights violations in the country during these UNHRC sessions.
“Sadly they are Filipinos who represent a minuscule group of oppositionists back home, but unfortunately the loudest, whose main objective has always been to humiliate and embarrass our country before the world,” Catura said Thursday.
These NGOs, he added, will never talk to the government back home for they know their cause becomes irrelevant if they do so because the government can effectively address the same.
“These NGOs will always need and abuse the UN, pity this body, if only to justify their sad and sorry existence,” Catura said, referring to the intergovernmental organization of 193 sovereign states that fosters cooperation between nations in order to solve economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems, among others.
Catura challenged these NGOs to stop using the UN as a sounding board for lies against the Philippines and the Filipino people who have had enough of the same lies propagated in the last elections by the political opposition that miserably lost all their bids for an elective post.
Instead of running to the UN like spoiled brats, he called on them to engage with the Philippine government and take advantage of the remedial mechanisms back home to address their alleged cases of human rights violations.
“The Philippine government has always been open, in fact, waiting for these engagements, to no avail.,” he said.
Catura, who is now in Geneva for the UNHRC’s 42nd session, recalled attending an hour-long side-event forum in the session on Sept. 11, co-sponsored by iDefend, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, PAHRA, and Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.
He added that in the forum titled “The human rights crisis in the Philippines” were the usual anti-government and anti-Duterte tirades.
“I knew there would be the usual tirades, but I never expected the capacity of these NGO panelists to spew the lies and deception at such level so unheard so, and with tears for good measure,” Catura was quoted from his Facebook post.
He said he had the chance to make brief comments on the status of the anti-illegal drug campaign and the State’s protection of children being used by drug addicts and drug dealers.
After the deception and drama on the alleged human rights crisis that happened on stage, he said he told the audience they should not take his word for it, nor that of the panelists.
“Just go and visit the Philippines to find out for yourselves,” narrated Catura, adding that he has never been so confident saying it.
The UNHRC 42nd Session, which runs from Sept. 9 to 27, is composed of updates by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; thematic reportings by and interactive dialogues with special rapporteurs and independent experts, including side-meetings and consultations with them; and NGO/ sectoral side-events. (PNA)
