Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Mayor dared to name drug lord By Rex C. Otero, Garry Fuerzas, and Ben O. Tesiorna
TWO town mayors from Maguindanao have challenged Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to reveal the identity of a local chief executive of the same province suspected to be involved in illegal drugs trade.
Duterte had earlier warned an unnamed mayor from Maguindanao against drug trafficking after the suspected mayor's name reportedly popped up several times in intelligence reports.
Parang Mayor Talib Abo said Duterte should spill the beans on the real identity of the Maguindanaon mayor, suspected to be drug lord.
The same mayor allegedly transported 35 kilos of shabu from Maguindanao to Davao City.
Abo said Duterte must reveal the true identity of the drug lord mayor to put an end to the cloud of suspicion being thrown to all town mayors in Maguindanao.
Sultan Kudarat Mayor Tocao O. Mastura said all of the mayors in their province have now become suspects in the eyes of the public.
Maguindanao has 27 towns.
Both Mastura and Abo said the situation is giving them a bad image.
But authorities insisted that as much as they would want to reveal the identity of the suspected drug lord mayor, they still do not have enough evidence to pin the mayor down.
Davao City Police Director Catalino Cuy said revealing the identity of the suspect would be unfair to him.
