MALACAÑANG on Thursday, August 9, expressed optimism that the Duterte government will have "better relations" with the United Nations' (UN) human rights body under the leadership of Michelle Bachelet.
"I don't know her (Bachelet). But nonetheless, she was elected. So we congratulate her. Well, I would say that the entire community of states perhaps elected her for a reason," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. told Palace reporters.
"I think the election of this new High Commissioner for Human Rights must be a result of compromise. We are optimistic that we will have better relations with the new High Commissioner for Human Rights," he added.
Bachelet, who twice served as president of Chile, is set to replace outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein of Jordan.
Bachelet, 66, was Chile's first woman president. She also served in 2010 as the first director of UN Women, the UN agency promoting gender equality worldwide.
President Rodrigo Duterte was critical of the UN for supposedly interfering in the Philippines' domestic issues, particularly in his crackdown against the rampant narcotics trade.
Zeid, who is due to step down on August 31, openly criticized Duterte's brutal war on illegal drugs because of the spate of killings of suspected drug personalities. (Ruth Abbey Gita/SunStar Philippines)