The U2 fans in the newsroom never doubted it: Bono, the very political frontman of the phenomenal Irish band, would touch on the issue of human rights violations once in the Philippines.
He didn’t disappoint.
In a press conference on Tuesday, December 10 – Human Rights Day – a journalist asked what he thought of the human rights situation in the Philippines, given President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs that has killed thousands and has given rise to a culture of impunity in the country. (Read my newsletter: “The Philippines, a killing field”)
“My impression of the Philippines is [that it has] very caring, very sophisticated people. I understand that when progress is made, sometimes people make what they think are compromises for that progress. And I would just say, you can’t compromise on human rights. That’s my soft message to President Duterte,” Bono responded.
Then there was a bonus for us, the working press.
Bono was asked, would he snub the Malacañang occupant then for his human rights record?
“President Duterte is very popular, he doesn’t need me on his side, and as it happens I have a very deep conviction about journalism…. The safety of journalists is very important, and I think a democracy requires a free press,” he said.
I won’t be surprised if he’s been apprised that the Philippines has the most number of unsolved journalists’ killings in the world over the last decade.
So the guessing game among us now is really about whether or not President Rodrigo Duterte, in any of his meandering speeches, would spew out profanities against the singer-songwriter. After all, he’s cursed Barack Obama, the European Union, Pope Francis, Ban Ki-moon, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, and Agnes Callamard, among others for having supposedly meddled with domestic issues.
Maybe he won’t – because he doesn’t know how influential this social justice advocate is. Maybe he will – because somebody will whisper to him that Bono is a partner of Amnesty International, for which Duterte has no love lost.
Or maybe we should wait until Duterte finds out about the images of influential Filipino women that, last we heard, U2 was planning to use as stage backdrop in one of the numbers at their Philippine Arena concert today, Wednesday, December 11. Because we know how Duterte is toward women who push boundaries and fight back, right?
Remember this outburst back in March, which was Women’s Month? “Puta (Bitch), you know, you women, you are depriving me of my freedom of expression…. You criticize every sentence or word I say, but that is my freedom to express myself…. Kayong mga gaga kayo, huwag kayo mga (You fools, don’t give me that crap) – it’s the freedom of expression. Kaya sinasadya ko ‘yang ganito kasi (I do these things on purpose because) I am trying to bring you to the limits of despair.”
And so Bono will sing:
Oh, sugar, don’t you cry;
Oh, child, wipe the tears from your eyes.
You know I need you to be strong
And the day is as dark as the night is long.
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