MANILA, Philippines — Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman belittled the appointment of presidential spokesperson Harry Roque as presidential adviser on human rights, saying being part of the Duterte administration has put to question his human rights advocacy.
“The appointment of presidential spokesman Harry Roque as the President’s adviser on human rights is to apparently deodorize the Duterte administration’s unabated violation of human rights and the President’s repeated verbal assaults against critics of his dismal human rights record,” he said in a statement.
Lagman added, “However, after Roque’s human rights advocacy became questionable and suspect when he accepted the role as the President’s mouthpiece, he may become part of the problem, not of the solution, as he is obligated to defend Duterte’s infractions.”
He said the designation of his former House colleague “duplicated and overlapped” with the duties and functions of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, the “primary advisory body to the President in effectively addressing all human rights concerns/issues in the country.”
The committee was created by Administrative Order No. 29 on January 27, 2002 and was further amended by Administrative Order No. 163 on December 8, 2006, according to Lagman.
The Presidential Human Rights Committee is composed of the Executive Secretary as the Chairman, the Secretary of Justice as Vice-Chairperson, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs as Co-Vice-Chairperson, and the department secretaries of DepED, DILG, DND, DOH, DSWD, and DBM; the Press Secretary, the Director-General of NEDA, the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and the Lead Convenor of NAPC, as members.
A former law professor and party-list lawmaker, Roque was appointed as President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson last month.
He said he considered the position “to get an audience with the President to address key human rights issues in the Philippines.”
Roque added he “carefully considered” the position, especially because human rights has been a thorny issue amid the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, which resulted in thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings.
