DAVAO CITY – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte claimed on Monday night that law enforcement operatives from Manila have been planning to conduct raids, even set up drug laboratories, to discredit him.
“Davao is clean. I can vouch for that. We do not have a laboratory here, but we received reports that they (law enforcement operatives) might fabricate one to discredit me,” Duterte told reporters in a hastily called news conference late Monday night.
“We have reports that the top operatives of the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) are here, and they are out to discredit the city in support of a candidate,” Duterte, a candidate for president in this year’s elections, said.
The mayor warned that if these operatives would push through with their plan to conduct raids, plant evidences or set up a fake shabu laboratory, “make sure that your candidate wins.”
“If not, better go to China and reside there,” he said.
Duterte refused to name the presidential candidate behind the alleged plan.
“If I see you carrying shabu– whether you are from the military, police or PDEA – to set us up, I’ll kill you,” he said.
Duterte said he was sure there had been no illegal drug laboratories in the city.
“The last time they (drug manufacturers) tried it, they all died,” he said, referring to the 2004 raid on a drug laboratory in the city that resulted in the deaths of six Taiwanese.
But Duterte admitted that the illegal drug trade has continued in Davao City, although on a small scale.
“There is, but in sachets, maybe a kilogram,” he said, adding that local authorities have been addressing this problem.
“We cannot act as if we are in a fascist regime and order everybody to strip naked and be checked for drugs,” Duterte said in explaining why illegal drugs could still enter the city.
Senior Supt. Adzhar Albani, PDEA chief for Southern Mindanao, said they have started checking on the mayor’s report.
Albani said “there is no shabu laboratory in Davao City, for now.”
He said he would resign from his post if PDEA operatives from outside the region would conduct raids here without proper coordination.
“That would be an insult to me and my office,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
Albani said law enforcement agencies in the Davao City have been coordinating on operations to stop crime.
“And we don’t have problems like information being leaked,” he said. SFM