* Backs UN, ICC intervention if police abuses not stopped
* VP calls for Duterte to stand up to China
* Says Philippines should join freedom of navigation patrols
* Govt should be transparency about president's health
By Martin Petty
MANILA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte should allow the United Nations to investigate his war
on drugs, and abandon a deadly campaign that has been failure
and a dent on the country's international image, its vice
president said on Wednesday.
The crackdown has overwhelmingly targeted the poor rather
than big drugs networks, Leni Robredo said in an interview,
adding that Duterte's violent rhetoric was aiding a culture of
police impunity for which international help should be sought if
the government refused to change tack.
Robredo, who was elected separately to Duterte and has a
frosty relationship with the president, said the thousands of
people killed was already too many, with no evidence of a
decline in drugs supply or usage.
"We ask ourselves, 'why is this still happening?'. The
president has already made very serious threats to drug
syndicates, to drug lords ... and yet it's still very prevalent,
so obviously, it's not working," Robredo told Reuters.
"We have seen a lot of police that have abused their powers
and not been penalised so this is where the International
Criminal Court could come in, if we do not show the world that
we can take care of our own mess."
She added: "The lives of our people are on the line and the
dignity of our country is on the line, but my first call is for
our government to take care of the mess."
The authorities reject activists' allegations that drug
dealers and users are being executed and say the more than 7,000
people killed by police had all resisted arrest. Police say they
have no connection to the mysterious murders of thousands more
drug users.
Duterte is furious at a resolution in July by the United
Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the bloodshed, and
he last year withdrew the Philippines' membership of the ICC
after it launched a preliminary examination into alleged crimes
against humanity.
ISOLATE CHINA
Robredo, a former human rights lawyer who leads the
opposition, said the government should take a tougher line with
China over its activities in the South China Sea, or risk
squandering the advantage of an international arbitration award
that invalidated Beijing's sweeping sovereignty claims.
She said Duterte's argument that confronting China would
lead to war was nonsense, and the Philippines would gain more
from joining the United States, Australia and Britain in freedom
of navigation exercises, and drafting conventions with claimants
like Malaysia and Vietnam to try to isolate China.
"My question is, if China is really a friend, then why are
they doing a lot of things that are a threat to our sovereignty
and our territory?" Robredo said.
"We have such a gain to waste if we keep continuing with the
narrative that we should not offend China."
Robredo, 54, is among more than 30 critics of Duterte who
are facing possible sedition changes, which she described as
baseless and attempts by the president's allies to crush dissent
and create a climate of fear and authoritarianism not seen since
the era of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
She would not be drawn on whether the legal moves were
designed to remove her from the line of succession, amid growing
concern about the health of Duterte, 74, who on Tuesday cut
short a trip to Japan due to "unbearable pain" in his back.
Duterte this month revealed he had a rare neuromuscular
disorder, on top of other ailments including Barrett's
oesophagus, Buerger's disease and frequent migraines.
"It would be beneficial not just to the public but for the
president as well to be very transparent as far as his health is
concerned," Robredo said.
"The danger is the speculation would be worse than what is
really there."
(Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)