ALBAY Representative Edcel C. Lagman and Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin have also criticized Malacañang for raising the allegation that human rights groups may have been used by drug lords to undermine the government's war on drugs.
They joined human rights advocates in lambasting Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. for the "baseless" allegations. Rights advocates earlier warned that the latest Palace allegation has put their lives in danger.
Lagman, principal convenor of Makatao (Mambabatas para sa Karapatang Pantao), said “legitimate human rights groups will reject any and all attempts of drug cartels to use them as tools to derail the administration’s brutal campaign against drug suppliers and users."
Lagman hit both for their “irresponsible and baseless accusations."
"These two apologists of President Rodrigo Duterte are making blanket accusations without naming names or providing evidence," Lagman said.
The two earlier in the week said that some human rights groups are being used by drug lords to malign the Duterte administration's war on drugs.
Lagman said any alliance between drug lords and human rights crusaders is anathema to the latter’s advocacy against the proliferation of illegal drugs and the unabated extrajudicial killings of drug suspects.
Villarin, for his part, raises the possibility that the administration’s statement against human rights groups will target rights advocates.
“The statements made by Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque and Foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano on human rights groups being supported by drug money can easily extend to groups promoting harm reduction to address the drug problem," he said.
“It opens up these groups promoting alternatives to the drug problem to labeling and malicious imputation as Roque and Cayetano suggest," Villarin said.
“Drug use doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and how it plays out is influenced by the social, cultural, political, economic environment. Such ridiculous statements by public officials only feed into the violence and propensity to demonize critics of a failed war against drugs," he added.