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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Thursday, June 29, 2017
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MANILA – From the “most shabu-lized” in the country, Iloilo is now the “bedrock” of illegal drugs, according to President Rodrigo Duterte.
He made the claim in a speech at the 120th anniversary of the Presidential Security Group yesterday.
“I had an occasion to say it in public that it was Iloilo who (sic) was the bedrock of…kasi doon dinadaan e,” said Duterte whose campaign promise during the 2016 elections was to eradicate criminality and illegal drugs.
It was unclear if the President was referring to Iloilo City or the province.
“Then (illegal drugs) spread to the Visayas,” said the tough-talking Chief Executive.
Last Aug. 7, 2016 “most shabu-lized” was how Duterte described Iloilo as he linked four mayors, including Iloilo City’s Jed Patrick Mabilog and several police officers to drug trafficking.
Shabu is methamphetamine hydrochloride that, according to the police, is the most popular illegal drug in the country.
But unlike last year, he did not publicly shame any Ilonggo official yesterday.
The President also said local chief executives and “gangs” control the distribution of illegal drugs in the region.
“Sabi ko hindi na ito for kunsumo kasi kung pangkunsumo lang, ang tao he can only sniff too much of it. Ito was really (for) funding and that is why hard hit the Visayas,” said the President.
The mass production, too, of shabu in many parts of Mindanao was not for consumption but for “funding”, he added.
“We have a serious problem on drugs. It is overflowing in the country. Marami ang mga aliens, pati ang mga locals. There is a bigger problem because of the mass production of shabu in many parts of Mindanao be it in Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Cagayan, Buldon,” said the President.
He will therefore not allow any soldier or policeman to go to prison for destroying the drug industry, he stressed.
The three other Iloilo mayors Duterte linked to illegal drugs last year were Alex Centena of Calinog town, Siegfredo Betita of Carles and Mariano Malones of Maasin.
“Iloilo grabe talaga,” said Duterte.
Three weeks after saying this, unidentified gunmen shot to death Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-identified drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. and wife Meriam at the jetty port of Barangay Caticlan in Malay, Aklan.
Duterte recalled the time he campaigned for president in Iloilo. The people were “almost [desperately]” asking help from him, he said.
“Just pray. Just pray that I will win, and maybe, in the fullness of God’s time, I would take care of this problem,” he remembered telling the Ilonggos.
Mabilog, Centena, Betita, and Malones all denied involvement to illegal drugs./PN
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