Schedule Issue : Duterte Turns Down Meeting Request with UN Chief

Manila — President Rodrigo Duterte declined a request meeting with United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, officials said yesterday

The meeting was requested in order for Ban and Duterte to discuss the President’s threatening remarks about the country’s withdrawal from the UN after their criticisms about the extra judicial killings of the administration.

Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that the President is preparing for the ASEAN meeting in Vientiane, Laos and Charles Jose said that no one should impute any negatives on those who could not be accommodated by the President, since he has already granted 9 of 11 meetings requested by the heads of state during a meeting with the Southeast Asian Nations.

Two U.N. human rights experts last week urged Manila to stop a wave of extra-judicial executions and killings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency on a promise to wipe out drugs, drawing an angry response from Manila.

Duterte threatened UN by withdrawing the country from the Union after a UN special rapporteur criticized his crackdown on illegal drug-related killings in which he later claimed that his threatening remarks were just a joke.

Sources :DWDD / PIA / DZRH