Govt should heed advice on EU sanction threat

LOST in the volume of outrage over the “meddlesome” European Parliament’s expression of “deepest concern at the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the country under President Rodrigo Duterte” is a real implied threat of damaging economic sanctions that the government must take seriously, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) pointed out this week. As much as we agree, for good reason we believe, with most of the local sentiment about the political aspect of the issue, we also agree with the PCCI that the economic implications should not be taken lightly.

From our perspective, the European Parliament’s resolution last week was the result of an intensive disinformation campaign by disgruntled critics of the Duterte administration misrepresenting their cause. In his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week, President Duterte criticized those who would “weaponize” the issue of human rights for political purposes, and it appears that is exactly what is happening. We also believe that if foreign critics were to visit the Philippines, make their own observations and gather factual information, the “human rights record” of the current administration would largely stand up to scrutiny and be proven to be nowhere near as dire as it has been portrayed abroad by those with ulterior motives.