MANILA, Philippines — Senate minority members expressed gratitude and appreciation on Sunday to the European Parliament for adopting a resolution calling for the release of fellow minority senator Leila De Lima. ADVERTISEMENTThey added that the resolution should also remind the Duterte administration that the international community will not turn a blind eye and do nothing against the government’s attacks against the fundamental freedoms of Filipinos and the “severe deterioration” of the human rights situation in the country in the past four years. “We stand with the European Parliament in urging the government to free Senator De Lima and end her continued detention, and to stop extrajudicial killings, human rights abuses and other acts which have victimized and harmed countless Filipinos,” the senators said. “As long as Senator De Lima remains languishing in jail under such dubious charges and unjust circumstances, the current administration cannot truly claim that it is promoting justice and upholding the rule of law in the country,” they added. Voting 626 to seven, with 52 abstentions, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday expressing its “deepest concern at the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation” in the country under the leadership of Duterte.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 20, 2020 02:25 UTC