AFTER former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama accepted his challenge, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will schedule a lie detector test for the two of them to take as soon as possible.
While he wants the National Bureau of Investigation 7 to administer the test, Osmeña said he will request for an observer from an international body.
“I’ll schedule it (test). I’m trying to send word to get an observer from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency. I don’t know when they’re going to agree, but I am going to do it that way because if they’re really interested in fighting drugs in Asia, they’ll send an observer,” he told reporters in his news conference yesterday.
Osmeña challenged Rama to undergo a lie detector test to answer his alleged involvement in narco-politics, after he was named as a drug protector three months ago.
Named
The former mayor was among the 159 local officials, judges and police whom President Rodrigo Duterte named as drug protectors during a speech last Aug. 7 in Camp Panacan, Davao City.
After getting no response, the mayor reiterated his dare to Rama for them to take a polygraph test together last October.
It was only last week after the former mayor finally agreed that they will both undergo a drug test together that he said yes to a polygraph test as well.
While the two may have taken separate drug tests last Saturday, Osmeña said the two of them will be taking a lie detector test together.
“There’s plenty of time for that. In the meantime, he (Rama) can practice his emotion control so that the needle will not jump. I challenge him. He said he’s willing,” Osmeña said.
As for Rama’s challenge to sue him since the mayor has continued to accuse him of being a drug protector, Osmeña said the dare should be addressed to Duterte.
Sue or shut up
In an earlier interview, the former mayor dared Osmeña to “file a complaint or shut up,” saying he wants to put an end to all the allegations against him.
“He told me to put up and shut up, I’ll send that message to Duterte. Pusta gyud ta, hadlok siya (I bet Rama will be afraid). You look at the circumstances why. He’s not beyond question. The proliferation of drugs during his term is unheard of in our history. It’s never gone beyond that level,” the mayor said.
He lamented that Rama being linked to drugs comes down to the failure of his partymates to stop the proliferation of drugs in their villages.
The mayor pointed out Barangays Ermita, Duljo-Fatima and Lorega, where drugs are allegedly “abundant.”
“You look at this linkage. If you’re going to look at an isolated case, that’s just a coincidence,” Osmeña said.