Abante slams Duterte’s double standard on human rights over Quiboloy manhunt

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante on Sunday took a swipe at former President Rodrigo Duterte for his outspoken defense of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Apollo Quiboloy, who is facing arrest for various criminal cases.

Abante said he finds it “ironic” that Duterte would demand law enforcement authorities to respect his friend’s human rights, when he casually denied it to thousands of Filipinos during his brutal war on drugs.

“The rights of every Filipino should be respected whether they be pastor or pauper,” said the lawmaker, who is also a Bible pastor.

“Perhaps if the former president had emphasized the importance of human rights during his administration, then we would not have to investigate the thousands of extrajudicial killings that occurred during his presidency’s war on drugs,” Abante noted.

He said it is “a tragic irony” that the statement of the former president “has come out while the Quad Comm probe is investigating the Duterte administration’s drug war that killed thousands of Filipinos, orphaned so many children, and traumatized families.”

For what it’s worth, Abante said it should be the real victims of human rights violations that should be demanding of respect because they did not receive due process during the previous administration, unlike Quiboloy who is being given an opportunity to have his day in court.

“Unlike the victims of the war on drugs, Quiboloy was afforded due process. Not one but two courts issued warrants of arrest. The police went in to his compound with the end in view of arresting and detaining him. Even now, if he surrenders to authorities, Quiboloy will have his day in court,” he said.

“Unfortunately and tragically, thousands of our kababayans (countrymen), who were slain during the war on drugs were not given the same opportunity,” Abante stressed.

Duterte, in a statement released over the weekend, criticized the latest attempt of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Davao to serve a warrant of arrest against Quiboloy and his co-accused at the KOJC compound in Davao City.

“Let us ask this administration how it can guarantee the preservation of the constitutional rights of our fellow Filipinos when even the most fundamental of these rights are being blatantly violated,” the former president was quoted saying.