Acop lashes back at Panelo

Veteran lawmaker Romeo Acop on Sunday dismissed as baseless former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo’s statement over the weekend that the House Quad Committee’s findings on the previous administration’s “bloody” campaign against illegal drugs would not stand in court for allegedly being based on “hearsay.”

Panelo issued the statement in defense of his erstwhile boss, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is being held accountable for the purported 7,000 to 30,000 people killed during his so-called war on drugs.

Acop, senior vice chairperson of the mega-panel, said Panelo didn’t know any better about the inner workings of the Duterte administration’s anti-narcotics campaign, the details of which were tackled by the panel in 13 hearings.

“Attorney 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.

Panelo claimed on Saturday that the committee’s year-end report was aimed at “destroying” Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, ahead of the 2028 presidential elections — where the latter is perceived as the candidate to beat.

“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 by a mere attempt to make them 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.”

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

‘Grand criminal enterprise’

On Thursday, as the Quad Committee wrapped up its last hearing for the year, Acop presented a 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 the elder Duterte and Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa as “integral personalities in protecting the illegal drugs network in the Philippines.”

In November, Acierto, who has gone in hiding, accused the former president and Go of putting a P50 million bounty on his head, which the senator dismissed as “recycled, rehashed, perjured, and baseless allegations.”

Nevertheless, the Quad Committee 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, probably exceeding 30,000, affecting predominantly low-income families and communities.