Senator Panfilo Lacson had only two words to describe the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) release of the so-called “narco-list : “Dumb and Cruel.”
Lacson said the release of the names in the narco list was “dumb” as this would preempt whatever evidence that could be used against them.
An intelligence report about the supposed involvement of certain persons on illegal drugs, he said, should only be used to gather evidence.
“Pero dahil naisapubliko ito, ang implication nito is mafo-forewarn,” Lacson, who previously headed the Philippine National Police, said at a weekly forum in the Senate on Thursday.
“Cruel kasi hindi mo pwedeng sabihing validated yung isang intelligence report. Ang makapag-validate ng intelligence report yung kaso na pwedeng isampa na mayroon supisyenteng ebidensya para masampahan ng kaso yung mga nakasaad o nakalagay sa intelligence report,” he said.
(It’s cruel because you cannot say that an intelligence report is validated. An intelligence report can be validated only by filing a case with sufficient evidence against those in the list or in that intelligence report)
Asked on the possible liability of those who made the list public, the senator said they could be charged at most with libel.
“After all, hindi naman pwedeng gawing defense yung truth. Sasabihin ng PDEA totoo itong ni-release namin pero kung nasira mo ang reputation ng isang tao sa pamamagitan ng isang act na hindi naaayon sa batas, pwede sila siguro makasuhan ng libel,” Lacson said.
(After all, truth cannot be used as defense. The PDEA would say that what they had released was true but if you’ve already destroyed the reputation of a person through an act that is not in accordance with the law, then they can be charged with libel)
Lacson said President Rodrigo Duterte, who had reportedly ordered the release of the narco list, could not be held liable at this point as he is still immune from suit. /muf