SPEAKING before Cebu mayors, President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday labeled Cebu’s policemen and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 agents as “drug addicts.”
“Pulis ninyo diri sa Cebu, puro adik. Halos tanan, hasta inyong mga opisyal, hasta inyong mga PDEA. Imbes nagtaas nang rango, p***** i** niya... (Your policemen in Cebu are all addicts, almost everybody, even your officials and your PDEA. To think that you were promoted to a higher rank),” the President said in his speech during the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Visayas Island Cluster Conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday.
Duterte did not mention names, but he addressed a certain official: “Mga Cebuano, tingnan niyo kung anong nangyari. P***** i**, opisyal ka na. (Cebuanos, look what happened to... You are an official already.) That’s treason. If you are PDEA, or with the military and the police, nandiyan ka (you engage in illegal drugs), that is treason. It’s the highest infidelity that you can commit,” he said.
“If you use your office as a platform for crime...do not ever think that because you are with PDEA, or the police, or you are a general (that I will not go after you),” he added.
Other than this statement, the President said nothing more about the Cebu policemen and the PDEA.
Recently, two PDEA 7 agents in Cebu were shot dead. The killings remain unsolved.
Duterte also singled out Talisay City when he urged the mayors to fully enforce the law and raise the bar in governance, especially in the fight against illegal drugs.
“Gaya ng Talisay. P**** i** iyang Talisay na iyan. Mahurot mo diha hinay-hinay. (You in Talisay, you will all fall, gradually),” he said.
He assured the 283 mayors from the Visayas that if they will be falsely accused in their efforts to eliminate illegal drugs, he will support them.
Also in his speech, Duterte again attacked retired police general and Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, whom he accused of being involved in illegal drugs.
The President, however, did not mention accused drug lord Peter Go Lim, who has a standing warrant of arrest for conspiracy to commit illegal drugs trading.
“Ikaw, Loot, kasayang ang pagka-PMAer mo. Gastos ng tao tapos, (you) keep on denying. Ilang beses ka na in-ambush? Matatag ka talaga. P*** i** mong Loot ka, huwag mo akong takutin, takutin na military, letse ka (Your being a PMA graduate is for naught. Your education was paid for by the people. How many times have you been ambused? You are really indestructible. Do not threaten me, just because you are military),” Duterte said. Loot did not attend the conference.
In a phone interview last night, the police chief of Talisay City believes that the statement of Duterte is merely a reminder for them to continue their war against illegal drugs.
Supt. Marlu Conag admitted that while illegal drugs were rampant in some parts of Talisay, this is no longer the case now.
“I agree with the President’s statement... But now, the selling and buying of illegal drugs have slowed down due to our efforts,” Conag added. (SunStar Philippines, EOB, With JKV)