Palace unfazed: No to foreign probe on drug war, rights case in PH

SHOOTOUT A gun is recovered at the spot where drug suspect Rolando Bugarin died after a shootout with policemen in Biñan City, Laguna province, in July. —PHOTO COURTESY OF CALABARZON PNP

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang remains unfazed over a recent survey showing the majority of Filipinos believed the government should not stop international groups from investigating the drug war in the Philippines.

READ: SWS: 60 % of Filipinos believe gov’t should not stop int’l probe on drug war 

“[Our] reaction is you cannot do that to us because we are a sovereign state,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Panelo said justice system in the Philippine is working, even echoing Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin’s remark that there was no need for foreign interference in probing the country’s human rights situation and drug war.

READ: CJ Bersamin: Foreign interference is not needed in PH drug war probe 

“Lumalakad lahat iyong aming sistema dito, gaya nga ng sinabi ni Chief Justice di ba? Ano ang sabi ni Chief Justice, ‘hindi na kailangang pumasok sila rito, We have a robust judicial system,’” he said.

He said the government has been investigating the alleged abuses in the government’s controversial war on drugs and had file cases against abusers.

“Iniimbestigahan lahat iyan, dinidemanda naman, wag na kayong makialam dito sa aming bansa,” he said.

He said the government’s stand remains the same, saying any foreign probe is “an assault on our sovereignty.”

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he would only face a Philippine court and would not answer to an international tribunal over his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs that killed thousands, mostly poor.

READ: Duterte: I will only face a Philippine court, won’t answer to Caucasian