Biden will be ‘keen’ on Duterte’s human rights record – professor

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

A political science professor from Iloilo said US President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is sure to take the Duterte administration to task on its human rights record.

Prof. Frank Robite, a political science professor in several universities in Iloilo City, told Daily Guardian that the Biden administration would revive former US President Barack Obama’s criticism of killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”.

Robite added that Biden might be at the receiving end of possibly renewed rants by Duterte against the US.

Biden was Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017.

“When it comes to human rights, I think the Biden administration is more keen on quizzing the Duterte administration about the murders that are connected with the war on drugs. Maybe ‘Tatay’ will start cursing again, this time at Joe Biden. A Biden administration would be more keen on questioning the human rights records of the Duterte administration rather than the Trump administration,” said Robite in a phone interview.

 

 

MOMENTUM

Robite also talked about the hashtag #Halalan2022, which shot up in the Philippines’ trending list on social media site Twitter on Sunday, hours after Biden’s win.

Robite said that he had doubts whether the Americans’ repudiation of Pres. Donald Trump would be repeated in the 2022 Philippine elections.

He lamented that Filipinos tend to be “too forgiving” when it comes to politicians running for elective office here.

“I hope that the feelings and curiosities stay on, but the Filipinos have this quality of a national amnesia. People easily forget. Two years is a long time. I hope we can carry the momentum until 2022, there is a feeling that people would choose rightly the next time. I don’t know if it would stick. I think they are too forgiving,” Robite said.

He cited Dr. Jose Rizal’s whims against independence from Spain, adding that he predicts Filipinos may remain with the same attitude in the next elections.

Nevertheless, Robite hoped that he was wrong.

“Even if you’re some kind of Satan, if there is already money from his hand, Filipinos are ready to forgive and move on. After the Biden and Trump, I predict that Filipinos would still be the same. Like what Dr. Jose Rizal said, why do we keep asking for independence from Spain? With or without Spain, the Philippine would still be the same or worse. The slaves of today will become the tyrants of tomorrow. My prediction is, I hope I’m wrong, by 2022, the Filipinos will still be the same,” he added.

President Duterte on Sunday congratulated Biden in a statement read by President Spokesperson Herminio Roque.

“We look forward to working closely with the new administration of President-elect Biden anchored on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and shared commitment to democracy, freedom, and the rule of law,” Roque said as he read Duterte’s statement.

Duterte and the incumbent U.S. President, Donald Trump, had been seen as very similar to each other when it comes to the language they have been using in speeches, as well as several of their ‘isolationist’ policies.

Duterte had cursed Obama when the latter criticized the extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

Trump, on the other hand, has been economically tough on China, imposing trade sanctions that were detrimental to his own country’s agriculture sector due to the East Asian country’s retaliation.

The Washington Post even nicknamed Duterte as “Trump of the East” just before the 2016 presidential elections.

As part of his “independent” foreign policy, Duterte had a lukewarm relationship with the United States, actively showing its preference towards China, while keeping a friendship with the Trump administration.