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NGOs are used by drug lords to destabilize Duterte government

NGOs are used by drug lords to destabilize Duterte government
Written by Thailand News

Non-governmental human rights groups have unwittingly been used as a tool by drug lords to destabilize the Duterte administration, The Manila Times Online reported on Tuesday quoting Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr.

“The illegal drug trade is a multi-billion peso industry and billions have been lost with the voluntary surrender of more than a million drug users, arrest of tens of thousands of drug personalities and seizure of billion-peso clandestine drug laboratories and factories,” said Roque.

To continue to thrive in the drug industry, Roque said the drug lords could easily use their drug money to fund destabilization efforts against the government.

The statements from Roque and Cayetano were met with dissatisfaction from the international NGO Human Rights Watch, a vocal critic of President Duterte’s war on drugs.
“Are they trying to have death squads target human rights activists?” asked Brad Adams who questioned the credibility of the statements of both Cayetano and Roque. He called on both of them to take back what they said.

Presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo downplayed the statements of Human Rights Watch, saying that they were misplaced.

“Well, human rights groups need funding right? They (drug lords) can always fund them (NGO) without them knowing,” said Panelo.

 


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