SPECIAL representative for human rights Eamon Gilmore welcomed the willingness of the Philippine government to engage with the European Union and the global community, but emphasized that the country should ensure accountability, more so for incidents involving extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the war on drugs.
While in the country, Gilmore met with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo, Philippine National Police’s chief of the Human Rights Office Gen. Vincent Calanoga, Philippine representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Aileen Mendiola-Rau, as well as those from United Nations agencies, civil-society organizations and businesses.
The special representative also visited former senator Leila de Lima in Camp Crame, Quezon City and had a dialogue with victims of EJKs in his visit to an EU-supported project: “Paghilom Programme of Father Flaviano Villanueva.”
Gilmore noted the government’s openness to engage with the EU, as reflected on various occasions such as the second meeting of the Subcommittee on Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human rights; the visit by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the European Parliament; as well as the visit of European parliamentarians of the Subcommittee on Human Rights to the country.
He mentioned however the slow progress of prosecution and conviction of people responsible for the victims of the said killings.
“Three convictions out of more than 6,000 cases [are] not enough,” he said, as he called for “more accountability to bring justice to the victims of the drug wars. It is crucial to ensure that the perpetrators of EJKs are brought to justice, in full observance of due process and the rule of law.”
The special representative also called for the quick release of De Lima: “I do not understand why somebody like her who has not been convicted of anything has spent six years in prison. She should be released without further delay.”
In his meeting with Manalo, the EU official expressed his gratitude for the Philippines’s consistent support in all UN General Assembly resolutions related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
On the country’s inclusion on the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), he explained that the European Council and the European Parliament will be involved in the decision of its renewal, indicating the importance of continuing bilateral dialogues and the need to meet each other.
The EU’s GSP+ gives developing countries such as the Philippines a special incentive to pursue sustainable development and good governance. Countries eligible to benefit from this have to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labor rights, the environment, and good governance.
For Gilmore, any agreement entered between the EU and other countries would always have considerations on the performance of the other party in related rights: “Doing business with the EU means addressing human-rights issues.”
While the Philippines has made progress in areas covered by the GSP+ conventions—including on the environment, governance and social-development agenda—the representative feels that more needs to be done to ensure effective implementation; in particular, of all human-rights conventions.
He said that the EU’s immediate priority in this regard remains ensuring the continued access of the Philippines to the said scheme, but this means “proper implementation of the relevant conventions.”