MALACAÑANG on Thursday, March 7, backtracked its earlier claim that the government's so-called "narco-list," which contains the names of public officials linked to illegal drugs, was based on "wiretapped" information from foreign governments monitoring drug syndicates.
Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said his recent remark about the supposed wiretapping of phone conversations of drug offenders was a mere "educated guess."
"I'm clarifying my statement. My statement is based on logic. [It's an] educated guess on what is happening in the world today," the Palace official said.
"Countries whose survival depends on the measures that will undertake to preserve their territory or sovereignty will have to use that [wiretapped information]," he added.
Panelo made the clarification after saying earlier that the evidence against politicians with alleged involvement in narcotics trade came from wiretapped communications provided by the United States, Israel, Russia, and China.
His claim drew criticisms, since Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Law prohibits any person to record a private communication or spoken word without the permission of parties involved or authorization from the court.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency denied earlier Thursday that it had received wiretapped information from foreign countries with regard to narco-politicians.
Panelo, in his latest remark, admitted that he used the "wrong word" when he previously said that other countries had "provided" the Philippine government "wiretapped" conversation among personalities believed to be involved in illegal drugs.
"Siguro (Perhaps), I use the wrong word. What I really mean is if any information is thrown to our lap without asking it in the course of anything whether it's coming from whomsoever, we can use that information as a lead," he said.
Panelo now emphasized that narco-list was based on information from drug surrenderers, nabbed drug suspects, and surveillance of law enforcement agencies.
He also clarified that drug offenders were so far not wiretapped, when pressed if a foreign government was already able to record conversations of a certain drug personality in the Philippines.
"It could come from information coming from surrenderers, from those arrested, and from surveillance," the Palace official said.
"Unang-una, wala pang na-wiretap. Ang akin, more on educated guess kung anong gagawin ay kung anong dapat gawin at kung anong maaaring gawin (First and foremost, no one is being wiretapped. For me, it's more on educated guess on what should be done and what can be done)," he added. (SunStar Philippines)