Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares (File photo by KIMBERLY DELA CRUZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Makabayan senatorial bet Neri Colmenares tags as “unfair” efforts of people to associate him with a distant relative who was caught with illegal drugs in Cebu City.
“It is is certainly unfair and malicious to use her predicament to try to besmirch my or any person’s reputation, including those of far distant relatives who happen to share her last name,” Colmenares, chairperson of Bayan Muna, said in a statement issued on Sunday.
He was referring to a certain Teri Colmenares who was arrested for selling party drugs and high-grade marijuana.
He admitted, though, that there was a possibility of her being a distant relative.
“As with many Filipinos who do not know their larger extended families, I do not know Teri Colmenares personally, although I suspect she is a distant relative as she hails from the Visayas,” he said.
“I am told that her great-grandfather and my grandfather may be cousins,” he added.
The drug suspect was arrested on Saturday after it was believed that the drugs she was selling were used in date-rape cases.
According to previous reports, Cebu Police started tracking down Colmenares after a complaint where a woman said she was molested twice by a disc jockey after she had been drugged.
Teri Colmenares was a former beauty queen who participated in the 2018 Binibining Cebu pageant.
READ: Former beauty queen held for drugs in Cebu City
The senatorial candidate asked authorities to be fair with the suspect — whether she was really involved in drugs or not.
“Having said that, I expect the authorities to treat her with fairness,” Neri Colmenares said. “Whether she is involved in drugs or not, her due process rights, like the rights of any other accused, deserve respect.”
“Shaming, ostracizing or killing drug suspects has never been the way to deal with the drug problem,” he noted. /atm