MALACAÑANG on Saturday, March 10, took exception to the pronouncement of the United Nations' (UN) human rights chief that President Rodrigo Duterte needs "psychiatric evaluation."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein's recommendation that Duterte undergo psychiatric check was "uncalled-for" and "an affront" to the Philippines' independence, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said.
READ: UN rights chief: Duterte needs psychiatric check
"I reiterate that the language used by the High Commissioner is uncalled for. I'm very tempted to respond in similar language but I have opted to restrain myself, opting not to respond in the same ad hominem used by the UN High Commissioner," Roque said in a press conference in Iloilo.
"I will reiterate however that such language directed against a democratically-elected head of a UN member-country is uncalled for and is of course an affront [to] the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines," he added.
In an interview held in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday, March 9, Zeid said "it makes one believe that the president of the Philippines needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation."
Zeid was prompted to issue such pronouncement, amid the apparent strain ties of the Philippines with the UN special rapporteurs, including Agnes Callamard (extrajudicial killing) and Victoria Tauili-Corpuz (indigenous peoples).
Callamard was frequently mentioned by Duterte in his frequent profanity-laced remarks for supposedly criticizing his war on illegal drugs. Tauili-Corpuz was identified by the Department of Justice as among the 600 individuals who are purportedly associated with the communist rebels and must be declared as terrorists.
Roque said Zeid, by issuing such "very harsh" language against Duterte, does not only offend the Filipino people but also insult "all countries [that] have democratically elected their heads of states."
He then told Zeid, a Jordanian prince who is "not elected" unlike Duterte, to respect the Philippines' democracy.
"Perhaps, the UN High Commissioner's language is because of the fact that they do not have democracy in his home state of Jordan. Jordan's leader is not elected unlike our president. And so my message to the High Commissioner is: We respect our president in this country because we gave him a democratic mandate to live," Roque said.
"And I would hope that although you do not have the same democratic system in your home country of Jordan, you will respect the kind of democracy that we have in the Philippines," he added. (SunStar Philippines)