Retired Police General Vicente Loot (CDN PHOTO/Lito Tecson)
MANILA — “I was laughing when accusations against me on illegal drugs were brought up once again publicly. But when it was the President himself telling me that and naming me, my world fell apart.”
That was the calm but emotional response of retired police general and now Daan Bantayan Mayor Vicente Loot of Cebu when he spoke in front of the media at the PNP Camp Crame on Thursday evening, regarding President Duterte’s accusation that he and four other active and retired police generals have been protecting drug traffickers.
“I can say I never benefitted from illegal drugs,” Loot told reporters, adding that his wife and four children were hardest hit by Duterte’s accusations against him.
Loot expressed readiness to bare all to media in a bid to clear his name and to fully cooperate with the Philippine National Police in the investigation by baring his bank accounts to authorities.
Loot, although disheartened by the “trial by publicity,” said he would not question the President.
He was set to meet Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Thursday night to give his side.
“The Ombudsman cleared me in the 2009 case filed against me by the National Bureau of Investigation on Feb 6 last year on the guise of a lifestyle check,” he said.
Loot said the issue resurfaced because of politics, and because he was the mayor of his municipality.
According to Loot, his money and properties are conjugal, and most of his fortune came from the efforts of his wife.
Loot said he could honestly say he had nothing to do with illegal drugs.
He claimed that he was even leading the anti-drug and criminality campaign in his own municipality which, he said, has been seriously affected by illegal drugs.
Feeling at a disadvantage before the court of public opinion, Loot said he has decided to come to the media to achieve justice and defend himself.
“I am coming to the media, so I can talk to President Duterte and clear my name,” he said, adding that he did not bring any documents with him on Thursday night, because he did not know the exact bases for the allegations against him.
Loot admitted his closeness to retired police deputy director general Marcelo Garbo, Jr., who was his company mate at the Philippine Military Academy. He also worked with Garbo for two years in Cebu. Retired police general Bernardo Diaz, who used to head the Philippine National Police Regional Office 6 and was another general accused of protecting drug traffickers, was his schoolmate.
He said he has not talked to any of the accused generals yet.
He added that he had not been a member of the anti-narcotics group of the PNP for a long time, making it highly difficult for him to interfere in anti-drug operations.
Prior to his retirement in 2015, he was performing an administrative duty, he said, and hence he had no contact, “no influence” on drug-related cases. “It was not part of my mandate,” he added.
Loot said he went to the media to signal his readiness to face a transparent investigation and open his bank account for scrutiny.
“In war you can only die once. But in politics, you die several times,” Loot said.
He reiterated that his political opponents were behind the allegations against him.
He said he has learned from his ordeal that one must be careful whom to trust and talk to. SFM
