FORMER president Benigno Aquino III should also be blamed for the worsening law and order situation in the country, Malacañang said Monday, July 30.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said Aquino could have done something to improve peace and order in the country during the latter's six-year term but failed to do so.
Roque cited that the United Nations (UN) had even slammed the Aquino administration for its failure to protect the right to life and stop the rampant killings of journalists when the latter was still the president.
"I wish he (Aquino) did more also in protecting human life because it was during his administration too that the UN also noticed that we were in breach of our obligation to right to life, especially on the killing of journalists as well," the Palace official said.
"Meaning as the former president, he shares partly in the blame for this culture of impunity," he added.
Roque turned the tables on Aquino after the latter criticized President Rodrigo Duterte who said that his concern is "human lives" rather than "human rights."
On July 28, Aquino hit Duterte for playing down the heavy criticisms on his brutal war on narcotics trade.
To recall, Duterte said in his third State of the Nation Address on July 23 said that human rights advocates cannot prod him to halt his crackdown on illegal drugs.
Duterte said during his address to the nation: "If you think that I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight because of demonstrations, your protests, which I by the way find misdirected, then you got it all wrong. Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives."
Aquino, however, dressed down his successor, saying that human rights and human lives cannot be separated.
Duterte has been widely criticized for his war on illegal drugs, which led to the death of thousands of suspected drug personalities since he assumed office in 2016.
Some 4,354 alleged drug suspects were killed during the legitimate police operations conducted from July 1,2016 to June 30,2019, according to the government's #RealNumbersPH.
Roque maintained that Duterte's drug war would remain relentless, despite strong opposition to it.
"The President goes by what he says. He is pursuing the drug war because he values human lives. If the construction of many is that human life is the same or forms part of human rights, then so be it," he said.
"That proves my point: the President is espousing, protecting, advancing human rights if you view human lives as part of human rights. No argument there," Roque added. (VoxPop Philippines)
