MANILA -- Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat executive director, Undersecretary Severo Catura, lauded the information campaign caravan initiated by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).
Catura made the commendation as he thanked the PCOO for inviting him to be part of the Philippine delegation, which recently attended a series of engagements in Europe to answer issues - including alleged human rights violations hurled against President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s administration.
“Gusto kong magpasalamat sa PCOO for that opportunity na binigay sa amin para kahit paano naging kabahagi sa information campaign na ito at kahit na iyong mga kababayan natin sa ibang bansa at least man lang namulat na ito iyong ginagawa natin sa hanay ng human rights (I would like to thank PCOO for that opportunity to be part of the information campaign and at least our countrymen in other countries have been informed that this is what we’re doing in the human rights office),” Catura said in a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday.
He described the information campaign caravan as an “opportunity to preserve the integrity of the information coming from the Philippines”.
“The mission as I said was to preserve the integrity of the information, but it is actually to qualify the extent by which the human rights narrative in our country has been so muddled,” he said.
Catura said the human rights situation in the Philippines has been painted in bad light at the world stage by the administration’s critics.
"Ang nakakaabot sa ibang bansa ay talagang ibang-iba sa nangyayari sa atin (The situation that reaches other countries is really different from what is happening in our country)," Catura said.
"In our work that we do, we have seen the extent in which certain mechanisms in the UN [United Nations] and in the EU [European Union] are being used as platform to advance certain agendas, especially of critics to this administration," he added.
He said the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), and many front organizations masquerading as non-government organization and human rights defenders, are also behind the painting of a bad image of the country's human rights situation abroad.
“And then again, really the challenge because of the modern human rights narrative is really a result of the influence of many front organizations masquerading as NGOs and human rights defenders,” he said.
Catura stressed that human rights is "promoted, protected and fulfilled in the Philippines".
"Ang nakakalungkot nga sa atin dito (What is saddening here is that), we are so confined to the definition of human rights. Ano ba ang definition natin ngayon (How do we define human rights today): EJKs, torture, etc. Nakakalimutan natin na (We forgot that) there are equally important issues of human rights, for which the Philippines is being hailed as leaders," he said.
Catura cited gender equality, migration governance, climate change, protecting children in armed conflicts, and disaster management as the areas of human rights, to which the Philippines is being hailed globally.
"We continue to be a global champion -- at ito ay kinikilala (and this has been recognized). Ang nakakalungkot nga, kinikilala tayo doon sa labas, pero dito (What is saddening is while we are recognized abroad, back here) it appears that we are so being so pilloried," he said.
Catura said the Philippine government delegation's engagement with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which he headed, clarified to the international community that the 625 cases of “desaparecidos (disappearances)”, filed before the Human Rights Council of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, did not occur under the Duterte administration and instead happened between the administrations of former Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Benigno Aquino III.
"We would like to clarify na (that) we wish to have some closure, to bring about peace of mind doon sa mga pamilya ng mga biktima (to the victims' families)," he said.
Catura said they have sought the UN Working Group's help towards resolving these cases and the UN body officials were delighted by this government initiative.
"We do not wish to set them aside, their memories are very important, the political journey of the Philippines is defined by the many heroes of the past who were victims of atrocities, iyong sinasabi natin na kung meron mang nagkaroon ng atrocities (if those atrocities indeed happened). And we wish to make that clear to everyone," he said. (PNA)
