Thread by @newswatchplusph

HAPPENING NOW: President Rodrigo Duterte addresses the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in his four-year presidency #UNGA #UN75

Duterte: The invisible enemy that is COVID-19 has brought about an unfamiliar global landscape and unleashed a crisis without precedent

Duterte: How we address COVID-19 will define the future.

Duterte: We need to ask ourselves whether or not we remain true and faithful to the United Nations principles and ideas

Duterte: The Philippines grieves with all the families all over the world who lost their loved ones to this horrible virus. We extend our heartfelt condolences

Duterte: We salute all frontliners who put up their lives on the line even on the countries not on their own. We also honor and recognize the healthcare professionals who selflessly answered the call of COVID-19 pandemic despite of its unknown characteristics #UNGA

Duterte: COVID-19 knows no border. It knows no nationality. It knows no race. It knows no gender. It knows no breed. #UNGA

Duterte: Ensuring universal access to anti-COVID-19 technologies and products is pivotal in the global pandemic recovery #UNGA

Duterte: When the world finds vaccine, access to it must not be denied nor withheld. It must be available to all rich and poor nations alike, as a matter of policy #UNGA

Duterte: The COVID-19 vaccine must be considered a global public good #UNGA

Duterte: We need a WHO that is quick to coordinate and quicker to respond. The Philippines will do its part in pooling resources. Our health workers are among the best #UNGA

Duterte: I therefore call all stakeholders in the South China Sea, Korean Peninsula, Middle East, and Africa. If we cannot be friends as yet, then in God's name let us not hate each other too much #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippine government has embarked on an unprecedented repatriation program

Duterte: We pioneered with the IMO for the green lane for the safe changes of seafarers' routes

Duterte: We must all adhere to the global compact of safe, orderly, and regular migration

Duterte: The Philippines was on track of becoming an upper middle-income country by end of 2020. But the pandemic has placed our economy in recession #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippines remain committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippines joined the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. We call all parties to honor the agreement #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippines will continue to protect the human rights of its people especially from the scourges of illegal drugs, criminality, and terrorism #UNGA

Duterte: A number of interest groups have weaponized human rights, some well meaning and some with ill-intentions. They attempt to discredit the functioning mechanisms of a democratic country and a popularly elected government #UNGA

Duterte: These detractors pass themselves off as human rights advocates while preying on the most vulnerable humans, even using children as soldiers and human shields in encounters. Schools are not spared from their malevolent and anti-government propaganda #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippines will do everything and partner with any one who sincerely desire to protect the innocent from all its manifestations #UNGA

Duterte: The Marawi siege, where foreign terrorists took part, taught us that an effective legal framework is crucial #UNGA

Duterte: The Philippines affirms that commitment in the South China Sea in accordance with UNCLOS and the 2016 Arbitral Award. The Award is now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon #UNGA

Duterte: We welcome the increasing number of states that have come in support of the award and what it stands for — the triumph of reason over rashness, of law over disorder, of amity over ambition. This – as it should - is the majesty of the law #UNGA

Duterte: We call on all Member States to fully implement the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Chemical and the Biological Weapons Conventions. I have asked the Philippine Senate to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons #UNGA

Duterte: Helping the most vulnerable – those displaced by conflict, persecution, and political instability – is a shared responsibility of all countries #UNGA

Duterte: The doors of the Philippines are open, as they have always been, to everyone fleeing for safety, such as the Rohingyas #UNGA

Duterte: Mutual understanding always accompanied by mutual tolerance between those of different faiths and cultures is the only foundation of societies at peace with itself and all others #UNGA

Duterte: We are committed to increasing the Philippine footprint in UN peacekeeping operations with increased participation of women #UNGA

Duterte: To defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, we must work with seamless unity which demands complete mutual trust and the conviction that we will win or lose together #UNGA

Duterte: We cannot bring back the dead but we can spare the living; and we can build back better, healthier, and more prosperous and just societies #UNGA

Duterte: Let us empower UN – reform it - to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow #UNGA

Duterte: Let us strengthen it so it can fully deliver its mandate to maintain peace and security, uphold justice and human rights, and promote freedom and social progress for all. After all, we are the United Nations #UNGA