Like his boss, Harry Roque has become the master of deception. He says PNoy was partly responsible for the culture of impunity promoted by Duterte. That is but an empty argument to PNoy’s criticism of Duterte’s self-indulgent dichotomy between human rights and human lives.
Why are they looking at PNoy? Let us be clear about this. Unlike Duterte, PNoy, then and now, never encouraged, induced or condoned killings and death squads. And unlike Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, PNoy never coddled butchers like Palparan and the Ampatuans. Unlike his immediate predecessor and successor, PNoy is no human rights violator.
What is significant though is Roque’s admission of the existence of a culture of impunity in the country today. The question thus remains, what is Malacañang doing about it, other than Roque obfuscating Duterte’s daily endorsement of murder and mayhem in the past two years.
With this admission, Roque is saying that the killings are here to stay. There will be no respect for either human rights or human life under this regime. And Roque will be remembered as the singular embodiment of this policy: a human rights lawyer-turned rabid defender of state-sponsored mass murder. ###