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EU lawmakers on
Thursday adopted a resolution condemning the "many extrajudicial
killings" taking place in the Philippines and showing concern
for the safety of Senator Leila de Lima, a fierce critic of
President Rodrigo Duterte, who is being held on charges of
involvement in the drugs trade.
"They should mind their own business," said Salvador Panelo,
chief presidential legal counsel.
"They cannot dictate on the Philippine government on what to do
with its constituent facing criminal charges," he said. "Nor can
they can interfere with the judicial processes of our country."
More than 8,000 people have been killed since Duterte took power
on June 30 last year and delivered on his election promise to
launch a merciless campaign against crime and drugs.
Police take responsibility for over 2,500 of those deaths during
their anti-drugs operations, but reject allegations by local and
international human rights groups that police are involved in
thousands of mysterious murders of drug users.
The EU parliament's resolution said it supported fighting drugs,
but from the source, not the consumer.
It called on Manila to "prioritize" the fight against
trafficking networks and drug barons over tracking down
small-scale consumers.
Duterte's spokesman, Ernesto Abella, singled out the EU for
criticism, rather than the parliament, and said it had been
"spooked" into making "unwarranted threats" as a result of
flawed information.
Duterte's ally and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel said the
EU parliament was trying to "micro manage" the Philippines'
internal affairs.
De Lima, a former justice minister, was last month arrested in
her Senate office after being accused of accepting bribes from
convicts engaged in the drug trade.
She says the charges are politically motivated and intended to
stifle criticism of Duterte, whom she has called a "sociopathic
serial killer".
The foreign ministry also rejected the resolution and said
European lawmakers had no right to comment on the judicial
system of a sovereign state.
"The Philippine government asks the international community to
refrain from influencing the outcome of a case that is rightly
under the jurisdiction of Philippine local courts," it said in a
statement.
It said the government was "taking pains to investigate the
veracity of these allegations of state-sponsored extrajudicial
killings".
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Martin Petty)
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