A government team led by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita will leave for Geneva on Wednesday to report administration efforts to improve the Philippines’ human-rights record before the United Nations, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Ermita, who chairs the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), said in a press statement that in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session at the UN on April 11, the Philippine delegation will flaunt the government’s achievements in terms of human-rights protection through different programs and policies it had undertaken in the last couple of years.

“We are proud of the achievements we have made in human rights. Like all countries, we cannot say we have a perfect record, but we have instituted programs and policies that are making an impact and this is what the international system wants to see,” Ermita said.

He cited the 83-percent decline in the incidence of extrajudicial killings which had been acknowledged by European Ambassador Alistair MacDonald and also reflected in data from civil-society groups, though varying in terms of actual figures.

When Philippine officials report to the UN Human Rights Council on April 11, Ermita said they will also discuss other peripheral areas, such as micro-finance projects for the economic empowerment of the people and the provision of basic services, such as the 10,000-strong network of Botika ng Barangay that sell cheaper medicine in poor areas in the country.

PHRC executive director Cecilia Quisumbing said the Philippine delegation is not expected to “defend” its human-rights record at the UN session since the UPR “emphasizes dialogue and cooperation.”

“Since this is not an inquisition, the delegation is not on a mission to ‘defend’ the government’s record. The UN General Assembly Resolution that created the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review emphasizes dialogue and cooperation. This UPR is meant to find out how the international community and the State can work together to improve human-rights promotion and protection on the ground,” Quisumbing said.

Ermita said the plan of antiadministration groups to attend the UPR session would only underscore the fact that “our democratic system is vibrant here and in the UN.”

“They have a channel to voice their views, and countries are also heard. The truth can really be heard when all voices are allowed to speak,” he said.

The Philippines is 10th on the list of the first batch for review.

The Philippine delegation includes representatives from the Department of Justice, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women.

Senate to SC: Reverse ruling on executive privilege

THE Senate on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse its March 25 ruling upholding the legality of President Arroyo’s invocation of executive privilege to prevent former National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) chairman Romulo Neri from divulging details of their conversation with regard to the aborted $329-million national broadband network project of the government with China’s ZTE Co.

MEMBERS of civil society on Tuesday condemned the President’s veto of the provision in the General Appropriation Act which suspended the payment of interest for questionable loans, including the substandard Austrian medical-waste incinerators installed in 26 public hospitals run by the Department of Health (DOH).

SIX Filipino seafarers were among the 30 crewmen who were taken hostage on board a French-registered cruise ship Le Ponant on Friday in the gulf between Somalia and Yemen, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The foreign donor community has reaffirmed support for Mindanao’s peace and development, citing the need to move the peace process and harmonize convergence of foreign aid in the region.

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is now coordinating with the Indonesian government for the possible taking of tissue samples from the relatives of Indonesian terrorist Dulmatin to help in identifying the latter through DNA tests.

SPEAKER Prospero Nograles on Tuesday said Malacañang should give assurance it can guarantee that its request that the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and Scarborough Shoal should be treated as a “regime of islands” and not a part of the country’s archipelagic baseline will not endanger the country’s legal claim on the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

THE Senate is poised to open a separate inquiry into the multibillion-peso swine scam involving public funds released as loans by the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) to still-unidentified beneficiaries.

A government team led by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita will leave for Geneva on Wednesday to report administration efforts to improve the Philippines’ human-rights record before the United Nations, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

A Japanese businessman faces the prospect of having his business visa canceled after he assaulted the daughter of a prominent Cebu politician at the Centennial 2 passenger terminal on Wednesday morning.