PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is not a drug lord protector, a Palace official said Sunday.
Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar was reacting to the statement of Senator Leila de Lima that the President might be a coddler of top drug lords.
"I do not think and I do not believe and it has not crossed my mind that the President is what he is as you said," Andanar said when asked if he thinks Duterte is really a drug protector.
"The President is the President of the land and he is the number one protector of our laws in the land."
De Lima raised the possibility of Duterte being a drug lord coddler after the President admitted that he was the one who talked with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa to reinstate relieved PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 head Marvin Marcos.
Marcos is allegedly involved in illegal drug trade and he was the police official who led the raid in the detention cell of the slain Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., also suspected drug lord, and another detainee.
When Duterte had not yet admitted calling Dela Rosa on Marcos' reinstatement, De Lima, quoting a source, alleged that it was Christopher "Bong" Go, Special Assistant to the President, who called up the police chief.
De Lima also questioned why Duterte allowed Peter Lim, suspected drug lord, to leave the country.
Lim personally went to Duterte in Davao City to deny that he was the drug lord included in the list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Aside from De Lima, Senator Panfilo Lacson also expressed his disappointment on Duterte's apparent double standard in the anti-drug war for reinstating Marcos.
"We take the Senator’s statement just like any person who gets criticized objectively and we take it openly, we will listen to him and we will also listen to our own Philippine National Police chief," Andanar said.
Duterte explained that he ordered Marcos' reinstatement as part of the police's investigation in building up the case against the police official. (SDR/Sunnex)