Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo has just made an about-face.
Two days after telling reporters that information tying politicians to a soon-to-be-released “narco list” had been culled from international wiretaps, Panelo today conceded he had been making what he termed an “educated guess.”
The narco list contains the names of politicians suspected to be involved in the illegal drug business, which the government wants to release publicly so that voters will be discouraged from re-electing them. Various groups have criticized the plan, saying it violates the constitutionally mandated assumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Panelo, who also works as the government’s chief legal counsel, initially said that the governments of the United States, Israel, China, and Russia had wiretapped the politicians in question and provided the Philippines with the information, according to the The Philippine Daily Inquirer. He has since changed his tune.
In a follow-up interview with the Inquirer today, Panelo said: “I’m clarifying my statement. My statement is based on logic, on [an] educated guess, on what is happening on the world today.. . As far as I know, there’s no one providing us with information.”
Doesn’t sound like a particularly educated guess.
Panelo said that the names on the drug list may have come from drug suspects who have surrendered or been arrested, GMA News reported. He also denied that a foreign government had tapped the phones of Filipino politicians suspected of being involved in the drug business.
“I used the wrong word,” he added. “What I really mean is if any information is thrown to our lap without asking [for] it, whether it’s coming from whosoever, we can use that information as lead. They just serve as lead.”
Panelo’s change of tune came a few hours after Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Derrick Carreon denied that the information they have received came from foreign governments. Carreon told Manila Bulletin that the politicians on the list were there based on information received from other local government agencies.
Several senators have criticized Panelo because Republic Act 4200 forbids wiretapping in the Philippines, a fact that Panelo, a lawyer, would ostensibly know. At the same time, Senator Franklin Drilon, a former secretary of the Department of Justice, said wiretapped conversations are inadmissible in Philippine courts. So there’s that.
Despite the numerous criticisms, the narco list is expected to be released sometime next week.
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