MANILA – Some human rights groups may be conniving with drug lords to undermine the government’s war on drugs, according to Malacañang.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque was echoing Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano’s claim that drug lords were using some human rights nongovernment organizations to advance their interests.
“The attacks against the President’s war on drugs have been vicious and nonstop,” Roque said on Monday.
“We therefore do not discount the possibility that some human rights groups have become unwitting tools of drug lords to hinder the strides made by the administration,” he added.
Cayetano, who attended the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva earlier this month, also claimed that an “outspoken” Philippine NGO pushes for the legalization of drugs.
The Foreign Affairs secretary did not name the NGO.
The official also did not show proof of his claim on the connection between human rights and drug lords.
According to Roque, the illegal drug trade is a multibillion-peso industry.
The Duterte administration’s antidrug crackdown has cost that industry “billions,” the Palace official said.
“To continue to do and thrive in the drug business, these drug lords can easily use their drug money to fund destabilization efforts against the government,” said the spokesman./PN
