MANILA, Philippines – “It’s not yet final,” Senator Imee Marcos said on Thursday, July 18, on the proposed review of the Philippine human rights situation as part of the actions recommended in the Iceland-backed resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

“There is no UN rule that stops UNHRC member-states from changing their original votes that led to the July 12 resolution,” Marcos said.

Eighteen of 47 member-countries backed the resolution, which, among others, asked the rights body to prepare a comprehensive report on the killings in the Philippines.

Fourteen countries opposed it and 15 abstained. (READ: Meet PH’s new friends: U.N.-member countries that voted vs human rights resolution)

Marcos cited the case of Israel wherein American diplomats lobbied for its recognition of statehood in the UN.

“History shows it has been done before and involving a very profound issue. Israel is today a globally recognized state because of vote changes on a UN resolution legitimizing Israel’s statehood, thanks to lobbying by United States diplomats in Israel’s favor,” Marcos said.

The senator said that the Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr can demand of any foreign ambassador based in the Philippines “to explain their country’s vote in favor of the controversial UN resolution.”

She also suggested that the Philippines negotiates with European Union states not members of the UNHRC to “speak with other EU members who voted for it.”

Earlier, Marcos called for the cutting of diplomatic ties with Iceland as soon as possible over “its hypocrisy.”

Malacañang strongly condemned the Iceland resolution for being “grotesquely one-sided, outrageously narrow, and maliciously partisan.”

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said President Duterte would still decide if he will “permit” such probe.

But the Philippine leader had previously bristled against any attempt by an international body to probe his government. – Rappler.com