The Philippine government will not allow international rights groups to disrespect the country when they pursue their investigation into extrajudicial killings, a spokesman said Saturday.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said President Rodrigo Duterte's invitation to the United Nations to probe killings of drug suspects is not a license to gang up on the country..

"We will not allow ourselves to be ganged up and the President said we are a sovereign state, respect our sovereignty the way we respect your sovereignty," Andanar said in an interview over dzBB radio.

Duterte on Friday invited the EU and UN to visit the Philippines to investigate the killings of drug suspects in police operations and by vigilantes. But the catch is he should also be allowed to question the investigating teams afterwards.

“Although the Philippine government welcomes any UN observer and will listen to what they have to say, they should also listen to what we have to say, both in the spirit of mutual respect and out of genuine recognition of our status as a sovereign nation,” Andanar said in a statement.

Latest statistics from the Philippine National Police as of Saturday said 1,216 suspected drug personalities were killed by police since July 1. Meanwhile, 2,140 people were killed by assassins which are being investigated by the police.

Law enforcers arrested 18,873 drug suspects while 721,067 have surrendered to the authorities.

Meanwhile, a United Nations committee is set to review next week the Philippines' implementation of economic, social and cultural rights.

The review by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is scheduled on September 28 and 29 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

As the Philippines is among the 164 countries which ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the country is required to undergo a regular review.

"The Committee, which is composed of 18 independent human rights experts, will discuss a range of issues relating to the Philippines’ implementation of the ICESCR with a Philippine delegation," the UN said in a statement on Friday.

The last review of the Philippines by the UN committee was in 2008. Emmanuel Tupas