Acop fires back at Panelo's 'baseless' allegations vs quad comm findings

Veteran lawmaker Romeo Acop dismissed as “baseless” former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo’s statement over the weekend that the House Quad Committee’s findings into the notorious bloody drug war of his ex-boss, former President Rodrigo Duterte, were anchored on “hearsay” that will never stand in court.

Acop, senior vice chairperson of the mega-panel, criticized Panelo for having the audacity to make such an allegation when he didn’t know better about the inner workings of the Duterte administration’s anti-narcotics campaign that have since been exposed during the 13 grueling hearings.

“Atty. Panelo is entitled to his opinion, but his statements are baseless and uninformed. He just attended a single hearing when former President Duterte appeared, so he has absolutely no grasp of the overwhelming evidence and damning testimonies presented before the committee,” he said.

Acop’s remark was a retort to Panelo’s allegations on Saturday that the committee’s year-end report was aimed to “destroy” Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, ahead of the 2028 presidential elections—where the latter is perceived as the front-runner.

“The allegations made [against] these people are either coerced testimonies or based on hearsay, or both,” said Panelo, who also served as the mouthpiece of senior Duterte. “They will never stand in court.”

Acop, however, countered that the mounting pieces of evidence that emerged during the investigations cannot be discounted as a mere attempt to make it part of “personal or political motives.”

“This investigation is about accountability and the pursuit of truth. It is not about political maneuvering or targeting anyone for 2028, as [Panelo] claims,” he emphasized. “This is not about destroying anyone or any group. It’s about uncovering the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.”

In fact, he stressed that it was the former president himself who incriminated him by admitting things “that aligned with the evidence we uncovered, particularly on extrajudicial killings.”

On Thursday, as the quad comm wraps up its last hearing for the year, Acop presented a comprehensive summary of the committee’s findings, claiming that the former president’s brutal war on drugs served as a cover for a “grand criminal enterprise” where he and his inner circle enabled and profited from the illegal drug trade they had publicly vowed to eliminate.

“It would seem that at the center of it is former President Duterte. It's very painful because we've all been scammed,” he said during his presentation.

Acop cited, among others, the testimony of former police intelligence officer Col. Eduardo Acierto, who categorically named former President Duterte and Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa as “integral personalities in protecting the illegal drugs network in the Philippines.”

In November, Acierto, who is still currently in hiding, accused the former president and Go of putting a P50 million bounty to have him killed, which the senator dismissed as “recycled, rehashed, perjured, and baseless allegations.”

Nevertheless, the quad comm vowed that they will “leave no stone unturned” and will continue to hunt those responsible for the former president’s summary killings, which saw more than 7,000 deaths based on the government’s data.

Local and international human rights organizations, however, estimated that the figures were a far cry from the actual death toll, likely exceeding 30,000, predominantly affecting low-income families and communities.