Hypocrisy at its worst
Canada had the wrong guy since the immigration officers asked Azurin about alleged human rights violations when he was not head of the police force.
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Daily TribuneCanada had the wrong guy since the immigration officers asked Azurin about alleged human rights violations when he was not head of the police force.
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Whichever way the immigration "issues" that hounded retired Philippine National Police Chief Rodolfo Azurin at a Canadian airport turn out, the central issue remains about a former government official being unreasonably held by a country on nothing but unverified allegations.
Azurin was questioned about the war on drugs of former President Rodrigo Duterte and was even asked about other former officials who were presumably involved in the anti-narcotics campaign.
He was held at the Langley Regional Airport in British Columbia and questioned about alleged human rights offenses unknown to him.
Canada had the wrong guy since the immigration officers asked Azurin about alleged human rights violations when he was not head of the police force. Azurin was the first Philippine National Police chief under President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Despite the lack of verification, Canadian authorities have taken the liberty to subject current and former Philippine officials who visit their country to the shameful procedure.
Azurin's ordeal must be likened to the decision of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, to proceed with its investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings that happened during the conduct of the drug war.
The ICC's efforts to enter the Philippines for the probe were repeatedly thwarted after the government said that having withdrawn from the Rome Statute that created the ICC, it had no obligation to let the tribunal probe something considered a domestic affair.
The cases the ICC wanted to inquire about were already with the courts, and the legal process is rolling.
Like the ICC, the Canadian border monitors had little clue about the case over which they subjected Azurin to a humiliating interrogation.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, in its discussion with Canada over the incident, should focus on something other than the shaming of Azurin but on the reason for holding a Filipino traveler without any known record.
The United States, using the Magnitsky Act, had also barred Filipino officials whom it identified as responsible for the war on drugs and the detention of former Senator Leila de Lima.
Have foreign authorities acquired a mandate to humiliate individuals from third-world nations on a mere whim?
In contrast, no Canadians were barred from the Philippines at the height of the trash controversy in which huge volumes of toxic waste from Canada were dumped in a Manila port.
It happened during the term of President Duterte, who did not mince words in his verbal attacks on Canada, saying that he would even go to war if the garbage was not retrieved. Duterte then barred all Philippine officials from traveling to Canada.
A Fox News commentator described the dumping of Canadian waste in the Philippines as "garbage colonialism" and said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be held responsible for it.
Canada later relented and offered to take back all the trash on a specified date, but Duterte told the country to take back its trash immediately.
In November 2017, after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Manila, Trudeau raised the rights protection issue to Duterte, and the Filipino leader flat-out responded by hurling an insult and defending Philippine sovereignty.
"I answer only to the Filipinos. I will not answer to any other bullshit, especially from foreigners. Lay off," Duterte told Trudeau.
When Trudeau again visits the Philippines, he should be asked about the dumping of toxic waste in the country and if he considers Filipinos' health less important than that of his well-off fellow citizens.
