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Thursday, October 19, 2006
'Politics,' mayor says of drug link
By Ben O. Tesiorna and Garry Fuerzas
DAVAO CITY -- It's plain and simple politics, Parang Mayor Abu Talib said on the intelligence reports that linked him to the illegal drug trade that was made public by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte Tuesday.
A day after the illegal drug exposé, Duterte issued a stern warning against those who plans to operate a shabu laboratory in Davao City -- there will be a massacre.
The town mayor added he is even willing to swear before the Holy Qur'an just to prove that Duterte's accusation against him is false.
"Hindi natin gawain yan ang pagbebenta ng druga at ito'y pabalik-balik na isyu mula nang pumasok ako sa politika," Talib said. (Selling drugs is not our doing and this is a repeated issue ever since I entered politics)
Talib, in an interview with Sun.Star, surprisingly lauded Duterte for making public the names of suspected persons involved in the drug trade in Mindanao.
But he said the information fed to Duterte and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) could have been the handiwork of his political opponents considering that the May 2007 election is fast approaching.
"Ang ipinagtataka ko lang kung malapit na ang eleksyon ay biglang lumalabas itong isinasangkot ako sa droga," he said. (I am just wondering why this issue linking my name to drugs always comes out every time the election is approaching)
Talib said he has no plans of filing libel charges against Duterte for publicly imputing a crime against him.
But the Parang mayor insists he is not involved in drugs.
He also denied knowing the persons Duterte identified in the so-called illegal drugs operation matrix -- a sort of organizational chart of big-time drug dealers in the Central Mindanao area.
Duterte, while admitting it will be difficult to catch Talib red-handed, offered P1-million bounty to anyone who can give information that will allow authorities to arrest those he had mentioned in the act of dealing with illegal drugs.
Duterte told reporters Wednesday that he would not think twice in killing drug dealers once they set foot in Davao City, much so if they set up their operation and manufacturing laboratory here.
"It will be a massacre for those who plan to establish shabu laboratory here. Those persons I mentioned, I'll give them enough time to buy a ticket and board the plane out," Duterte said.
Among the names mentioned by Duterte as those involve in drug trade were that of Abu Talib and two policemen assigned with the San Pedro Police Precinct, Ayao and Dechavez, who were said to be in cahoots with slain engineer Luis Francisco.
Duterte said he would not allow an extrajudicial killing this time admitting that all these killings would never be the solution to the problem.
The mayor's warning brought back images of six dead Oriental-looking men who were said to have been killed while trying to resist arrest in a raid of a shabu laboratory in Dumoy, Talomo district, this city, last December 31, 2004.
(October 19, 2006 issue)
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