TWO of the five police generals who were named as drug protectors by President Rodrigo Duterte have been earlier identified with erstwhile Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas' campaign.
Two of the five generals denied the accusations, while Senator Panfilo Lacson said he believes Duterte’s expose has a good basis.
During his speech at the 69th anniversary of the Philippine Air Force in Clark, Pampanga, Duterte named retired Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy director general Marcelo Garbo Jr., retired police general Vicente “Vic” Loot who is now mayor in Daanbantayan town in Northern Cebu, former Central Visayas police director General Bernardo Diaz (whom he mistakenly identified as former Region 11 director), National Capital Region Police Office chief Joel Pagdilao, and former Quezon City Police Director Chief Edgardo Tinio.
“I am compelled by my sense of duty na sabihin sa inyo lahat. Lalo na yung mga police na nasabit sa droga, one way or another who contributed to the deterioration of the law and order of this country,” Duterte said.
“Ito yung mga tao who were given the honor to join the academies of our country, the PNP or the PMA, at the expense of the public, and they had this kind of career there. All along, tayong mga mamamayan thought that we were being protected by the police primarily. Masakit pakinggan kasi, ginastusan mo na, binayaran mo pag-aaral nya, lahat ng uniporme pati medyas at sapatos gastos mo. By any language, it is really treason,” Duterte said.
Duterte said he has ordered the relief of the mentioned police generals involved in drugs.
“Huwag ninyong lokohin ang bayan sa panahon ko kasi hindi ako papayag. That goes for all,” he added.
Diaz and Garbo along with three other police officers have previously been in the news after being spotted by a group of journalists in a closed-door meeting with then presidential contender Roxas at the height of the election campaign.
With them at the Araneta-owned Novotel in Cubao, Quezon City were Director Generoso Cerbo Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) directorate for intelligence, Chief Superintendents Renier Idio, and deputy regional director for administration of the Southern Tagalog police Ronald Santos.
In another interview with CNN Philippines, Tinio denied that he has been involved in any illegal drug activity saying his focus was on police operations when he was the QC Police Director.
“I will report to the chief PNP and I am willing to subject myself for investigation, I am not hiding anything,” Tinio said.
"I am more than willing to be investigated. They have to pinpoint when, where and what was my participation in the drug activity," Tinio added.
Tinio said he won't go into hiding and is willing to undergo a lie detector test to prove his innocence in illegal drug activities.
Diaz, in a radio interview, also denied the accusation. “Pwede niyo pong i-check ang aking record. Alam po ng Diyos ang totoo. Bukas na bukas po ay magrereport ako sa Camp Crame, kay police director general Dela Rosa para i-presenta ang aking sarili,” he said.
The mentioned generals were ordered by the President relieved from their duty. They were also commanded to meet with the PNP director general.
"I would like to talk to them but certainly, I would expect the police commission to do their thing. Imbestigahan ninyo ito at huwag niyo akong bigyan ng sarswela," Duterte said.
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said President Duterte must have “good basis” for divulging the names of 5 police officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.
Lacson said he had no reason to doubt the information that reached Duterte.
After all, as Chief Executive, Duterte has access to sensitive information.
“All I can say is, the commander-in-chief, more than anybody in this country is in the best position to have access to all these vital and sensitive information and I have no reason to doubt or question its validity,” Lacson told Rappler in a text message.
Lacson said that he already encountered the same information about two of the five generals during the 2016 elections campaign period. It was some of his men from the now-defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) who provided the information, he said.
"At least two of them, I have been informed earlier (during the campaign period) by former subordinates in the defunct PAOCTF who at the time were seriously involved in anti-drug operations in their Areas Of Responsibility,” Lacson said.
The senator, however, refused to mention the two names, stressing that he had no means of validating the information. But the fact that two names matched the President's list was not lost on the senator.
For him, Duterte has good basis for his public revelation.
“All I'm saying is, since the President himself mentioned those two names among the five, he must have good basis in what he divulged, especially if he had a different source of that information,” he said.
Lacson ran under the Liberal Party-led coalition in the last elections.
Before he became PNP chief under the Estrada administration, he led the powerful PAOCTF that ran after kidnappers and drug dealers. (With KRP and Sunnex)