Against Patently Outlandish Claims

Screengrab from Inquirer.net.

CHEERS TO the Philippine Daily Inquirer for citing views contrary to a statement by Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre that “criminals are not (part of) humanity” instead of merely reporting the statement.

The Inquirer, in its Aug. 6 report, sought the opinion of Aguirre on the possibility that President Rodrigo Duterte could be charged with crimes against humanity before  the International Criminal Court (Aguirre: Int’l rights suit vs Duterte? No way, ‘criminals are not humanity’). Aguirre downplayed this, saying “Criminals are not humanity (sic), crimes against illegal drugs maybe.”

In the same report, the Inquirer cited the 1998 Rome Statute, to which the Philippines is a signatory. The Rome Statute created the ICC which prosecutes heads of state for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The report also quoted the Philippine Coalition (PC) for the ICC and Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque. According to PC-ICC, crimes against humanity can be committed as long as it is proven that there is “widespread or systematic use of force against the civilian population.”

Roque supported the PC-ICC’s statement, but said it might be difficult to prove the “widespread” and “systematic” elements of the charge.

This kind of reporting offers readers other views which show up the patently outlandish and possibly malicious statements as though these were reasonable and correct.