President Rodrigo Duterte says he is standing by his earlier statement that Naga City, the hometown of Vice President Leni Robredo, is a “hotbed of shabu.”
“I stand by my word that Naga is the hotbed of shabu. It was her brother-in-law who brought drugs to Bicol. That’s true,” Duterte said in his speech during the 49th Charter Day celebration at Mandaue City in Cebu.
In other developments:
• The camp of Vice President Robredo on Friday hit back at Duterte for his repeated accusation that Naga City is a hotbed of shabu.
Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesman, said the President must look into the entry of shabu worth P6.8 billion through the Port of Manila, arrest supposed drug lord Peter Lim and recall his decision to bring with him police generals in his trip to Israel instead of telling over and over lies about Naga City.
“Lies repeated over and over again are still lies. Instead of accusing [and accusing] without any basis, if he is that serious against drugs, he should have investigated the entry of P6.8 billion worth of shabu, arrested Peter Lim and allowed the police generals to work instead of giving taking them to a travel junket to Israel,” Gutierrez’s Twitter message read.
• Attacking Robredo is another attempt to divert the public’s attention from the tons of missing smuggled shabu and missing NFA rice from the market, Senator Francis Pangilinan said Friday.
Duterte was referring to Butch Robredo, brother of the late Interior secretary Jesse Robredo.
It was former Naga City councilor Luis Ortega who first claimed that the Vice President’s brother-in-law was involved in the drug trade.
Malacañang, meanwhile, said Ortega’s’ statement backed the President’s claim and should be investigated.
“This is a development that should be investigated,” Roque said in a radio interview on Aug. 22.
“If there are incidents like this, we have to know the steps taken by the vice president to implement laws in her own city and her own family.”
Roque earlier challenged officials to prove that Naga City was not a hotbed of shabu as the President claimed.
He urged them to be less “onion-skinned” and instead boost their efforts to eliminate illegal drugs in their city.
Roque said the President had “access to all available information that only a President has access to” and did not need to prove it. However, he said Duterte would apologize once proven wrong.
He said Naga City officials should view Duterte’s remark as “constructive criticism.”
“If they think that the President is wrong, that Naga is not a hotbed of shabu, they should prove it. They should arrest those selling drugs in Naga,” Roque said.
Law enforcement agencies are now validating the information bared by Duterte. with Rio N. Araja
