PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte raising the hand of former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan’s (PDP-Laban) campaign rally last Sunday, Feb. 24, might just have been a sign of “courtesy,” Malacañang said on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he was unsure if Duterte’s recent gesture signaled the endorsement of the vice mayoral bid of Rama, who was publicly tagged as a “drug protector” by the President in 2016.
Panelo said the President perhaps did not want to “embarrass” Rama during the rally.
“I do not know the circumstances surrounding the raising of the hand. But given the ethics of this President who does not want to embarrass people around him, I do not know whether that’s an endorsement or not,” he said in a press conference with Palace reporters.
“It could be just courtesy,” the Palace official added.
In August 2016, Duterte named Rama as one of the government officials protecting drug syndicates. Rama, however, has denied the allegation.
But following Duterte’s raising of Rama’s hand, the former Cebu City mayor admitted that he was on “cloud nine.”
Panelo said Duterte might have gotten information that Rama was not really involved in the illicit narcotics trade, when quizzed if the President’s latest move was opposed to his policy to go after individuals with links to illegal drugs.
For Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, though, the gesture was an indication his running mate had been scratched off the list of so-called narco-politicians.
He said Duterte and Rama even had a short talk before the President endorsed the candidates of Partido Barug last Sunday.
“I am happy that Mike was personally endorsed by the President. I know that he was never involved in illegal drugs as I’ve been personally with him since 1998 and there has never been any doubt that he was not involved in illegal drugs,” Labella added.
But as far as the old list of narco-politicians was concerned, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 7 Director Wardley Getalla said Rama was still on it.
So Duterte raising Rama’s hand during the PDP-Laban rally did not mean Rama was cleared of the allegation, Getalla said.
“We have an identification board intended for narco-politics and other personalities, but we cannot give information regarding it. We have the list that all the law enforcement agencies know about, but we don’t have the updated one,” he said in Tagalog.
SunStar Cebu tried to contact Rama for his comment, but was unable to.
Meanwhile, Panelo defended Duterte for supporting the mayoral bid of Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura during the PDP-Laban’s campaign rally.
Shimura, stepson of Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot, who was also tagged by Duterte as a drug protector, is running in place of Loot.
Panelo said Duterte could endorse Shimura because the latter was not involved in illegal drugs.
“I do not know the circumstance surrounding what appears to [be] an endorsement [of Shimura]. Number two, if that particular person is related to someone who appears to be involved, [it] doesn’t mean that that person endorsed is also involved,” he said.
Rama was on the first list of narco-politicians released by Duterte in 2016. The list included San Fernando Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones and Shimura’s stepfather, Mayor Loot. Fralz is the brother of self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones. Vice Mayor Fralz has not been seen in San Fernando for quite some time. (With PAC of Superbalita Cebu, JKV, Wenilyn Sabalo USJ-R Intern)