BACOLOD City – A lawyer for two Negros Occidental officials and a businessman insisted that the allegation that his clients were involved in a drug cartel was “baseless and unfounded.”
Atty. Aaron Lirazan went as far as saying that the complaints brought before the National Bureau of Investigation were “politically motivated” and could be aimed at influencing the 2019 midterm elections.
Lirazan’s clients were Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose “Bong” Lacson, Vice Mayor Renato Gustilo of San Carlos City and businessman Mariano Antonio Cui III.
These three along with alleged drug lord Peter Lim and two detainees were tagged as part of a drug cartel in San Carlos in complaint-affidavits that four people filed at the NBI central office on Oct. 3.
Alfredo Hulleza, Prudencio Mahilum, Cipriano Jimenez, and Cheryl Alburo sought government action into what they claimed to be the proliferation of drugs in the province.
The complainants claimed that Lacson and Gustilo protected the illegal drug business of Cui. It was earlier reported that the complainants alleged that the businessman was working with Lim.
“Whoever is behind these baseless and unfounded allegations obviously has a political agenda in the 1st District of Negros Occidental,” said Lirazan.
San Carlos belongs to the 1st District, along with Escalante City and Calatrava, Salvador Benedicto and Toboso towns.
Lacson, who hails from San Carlos, is running for governor in the 2019 midterm elections under the Love Negros-United Negros Alliance coalition.
If the lawyer were to be believed, similar allegations against the two local officials crop up whenever elections approach.
Lirazan described the 1st District as a “district group … proven time and again [to] muster enough votes [for] the candidates they have chosen to support.”
The lawyer claimed this has been “tested and proven” since the 1995 elections.
“Evidently these trumped-up charges are politically motivated [and aimed at] destroying the strength of the group,” he said.
Lirazan said his clients have not yet received official copies of the complaints.
But when they do, they will answer the allegations with evidence proving their innocence, said the legal counsel./PN
