Panelo clarifies Cayetano, Roque’s comment on rights groups

Presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo. INQUIRER.net / CATHY MIRANDA

President Rodrigo Duterte’s top lawyer said two Cabinet officials were merely “expressing concern” when they said that human rights group may be “unwitting tools” of drug syndicates to destabilize the government.

“We are not dispensing accusatory allegations,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“They are merely expressing concern that human rights groups, without them knowing it, may be being funded by drug money, making them therefore unwitting victims,” he added.

Panelo’s comment was in response to the remarks of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that “dispensing allegations without proof is dangerous as it opens human rights defenders to unsolicited attacks.”

READ: ‘Baseless’ claims linking rights groups to drugs is ‘dangerous’ – CHR

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano had earlier said that some human rights groups have been “unwittingly used” by drug lords to discredit the government’s so-called war on drugs.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has supported Cayetano’s claim, saying drug lords may be using their money to destabilize the Duterte administration.

READ: Roque: Drug money used vs Duterte gov’t, war on narcotics

Panelo defended the remarks of Cayetano and Roque.

“In the realm of possibility, that is not farfetched. Since they have been critical on the administration’s war on drugs, the drug lords could contribute funds without identifying themselves as the source of the donation for obvious reason,” he said. /je