Destabilization plot vs Duterte expected

CHIEF Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Saturday was not surprised that drug lords are bankrolling destabilization efforts against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Panelo said such move had already been anticipated but he expressed confidence that it will not flourish.

“That’s not surprising. Remember, drug lords are the President’s opponents because the President is stamping out the illegal drug industry in our country. That’s natural because they are against the President,” Panelo said.

“They will use everything in their power to stop the President from this war against drugs. That is expected but I don’t think they will succeed. The President is focused on demolishing, destroying, dismantling the entire drug illegal in this country,” he added.

On Friday, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that drug syndicates are exhausting all means to thwart the drug war of the Duterte administration.

Cayetano said he received information on this but has no enough details on how drug lords are funding the supposed destabilization efforts against the President.

“There’s an ongoing destabilization. While there are really human rights advocates raising legitimate concerns, there are drug lords riding on this,” the senator said.

“I do not know what specifically the drug lords are financing. What I’m saying is that it’s part of their playbook. It is part of organized crime to use their money so that they can continue to do business and it’s part of their plan to get rid of Duterte,” he added.