Agnes Callamard, at the invitation of the University of the Philippines, has been in the country to speak at the UP's drug policy forum. She is not in the country in an official capacity as a representative of the UN. She is in the country as an academic to speak to other academics.
Agnes Callamard, United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, on Friday clarified that she is not on an official visit in the country.
Callamard delivered the keynote speech in a two-day drug policy forum at the University of the Philippines organized by the Free Legal Assistance Group.
Speaking to reporters, the UN special rapporteur said that she is only in the country to attend the two-day conference.
"I am not here on an official visit. I am here in response to an invitation to participate to an academic conference," Callamard said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has also clarified that Callamard is not in the country for an official visit as such visit would have to go through diplomatic channels.
Callamard stressed that she would not be conducting an investigation into the killings of drug offenders while she is the country.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/05/1697015/callamard-i-am-here-academic-visitAgnes Callamard is a staunch opponent of Duterte's war on drugs and this opposition is enough to make her enemy number one in the eyes of Duterte's supporters. Upon her arrival her Wikipedia page was altered to read:
“She is a highly paid consultant of the Liberal Party of the Philippines dedicated into overthrowing one of the best President (Duterte) the country has ever had.”
https://coconuts.co/manila/news/un-rapporteur-agnes-callamards-wikipedia-page-hacked-says-dedicated-overthrowing-president/
Many Filipinos are crying out to declare her "persona non grata."
But perhaps the weirdest and most incoherent bit of indignation aired against Agnes Callamard comes from Atty. Bruce Rivera.
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WOW! This is a whole lot of........huh???
"Your meddling is the real why terrorists are born."
Completely laughable. Atty. Bruce makes this outlandish claim and does not even tell us what he means. What meddling? Her giving a speech at a University? How would her speech give brith to terrorists? He does not say.
Does he know what terrorism is and how it functions? Does he not know that terrorism in the Philippines is born of religious (Islam) and political/economic ideologies (NPA communists)?
"You come from a Western perspective and insist on the western concept of morality, values and freedoms. And if we do not follow you, you tell us it is wrong. But we are NOT the WEST. And we no longer want to be like you."
Does Atty. Bruce not realise that the Philippines has a Western form of government, economics, and religion? Does he not realise that the Philippines is very much a Westernised nation? Does he not realise that all the economic gains Duterete is working towards contribute to even more Westernisation? Does he not realise that all the technology he uses and clothes he wears and even his mindset is entirely Western???
As an attorney is his training in purely Eastern jurisprudence or is it all grounded in Western concepts of law? Is he going to withdraw his support for federalism? Federalism is a very Western form of government. Why does he say we no longer want to be like (the west) and yet is giving all his support to the federalist movement? That's called hypocrisy.
"Our morality does not always involve organized religion. And our concept of public welfare involves listening to the voice of the majority and not just to the first one who whispers it to your ear."
When did Agnes Callamard bring up religion? Being a modern Frenchwoman she is more than likely an atheist of some hue.
Is he saying that in the West the voice of the public and the majority is not taken into consideration? Does he even know how Western government functions? Has he heard of Brexit?
What's all the hubbub about morality anyway? Atty. Bruce Rivera is a homosexual who masquerades as a "woman" named Minerva.
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| http://www.abogado.com.ph/bruce-is-now-minerva/ https://www.facebook.com/MinervaFuschia/ |
ATTY. BRUCE RIVERA HAS NO MORALITY!!
"And most important, our concept of independence does not involve always listening to what you have to say especially when situations are not the same. "
Another incoherent statement. Agnes Callamard is not forcing anyone to listen to what she has to say. Nor is she speaking in an official capacity for the UN. SHE IS GIVING HER OPINIONS AT A FORUM TO WHICH SHE WAS INVITED!
"Ergo, you do not know shit of our problems so stop telling us what to do."
Now we get to the crux of the matter.
Filipinos cannot take criticism. Of any kind. Solicited or not. If they hear you say something negative about the Philippines they will pull out the "persona non grata" card and wave it in your face. It happened to Claire Danes. Last year Donald Trump was threatened with the same card.
If you ask a Filipino to do anything (like if you politely ask your neighbour to please turn down their music so you can go to sleep) they will become very indignant and transform into the hulk and shout:
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"
Atty. Bruce Rivera is so blinded by and full of Pinoy Pride that he cannot understand that Agnes Callamard is not telling Filipinos what to do. She gave a speech at an academic forum and set forth her opinions. If Filipinos want to implement her suggestions then fine. If not then that is fine too. She is not telling anyone what to do.
What we see in this tirade is nothing less than the mind of an overeducated Filipino going berserk and on the glitch. It's a temper tantrum more than a measured piece of criticism. It's like someone poured a glass of water on a computer keyboard and out came a lot of drivel. Atty. Bruce has something to say but it's obfuscated by so much incoherence that it makes no sense. And it's also insincere.
He starts out:
"I mean this with no disrespect"
and ends with the very disrespectful remark:
"Ergo, you do not know shit of our problems so stop telling us what to do."
Neither intellectually honest nor professional.
This guy is an attorney? Does he use this kind of language while arguing a case?
- Child Pornography
- Terrorism
- Sexual exploitation of women throughout the country
- The endemic corruption at every level of government
- Chinese hostility
There is a power in the people. If only Filipinos could harness that power and direct it in the right place then change might come. Revolution is possible. It has happened in Russia, China, Cuba, the United States. It can happen in the Philippines. Filipinos have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a country to win.
I will conclude with the musings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn on this power of the people.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
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