Mayor admits involvement in drugs … but that was before

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Mayors Montasir Sabal of Talitay, Maguindanao, and Rasul Sangki of Ampatuan, Maguindanao, have denied allegations that they were involved in the illegal drugs trade.

Sangki and Sabal were named by President Duterte as narco-politicians during his news conference in Davao City before dawn Sunday.

Sabal has repeatedly denied that he was a drug lord but admitted, in several media interviews, that he was once into it.

“I was once into illegal drug trade when I was still a police officer, but when I entered politics and won, I immediately stopped,” said Sabal, who was reelected to his third and last term as mayor last May.

When asked whether he would surrender or not after the President named him as among those involved in illegal drugs, Sabal said he was talking to his lawyers about it.

Sangki earlier told reporters that he was not a drug lord and had never been involved in the illegal drugs trade. He presented himself to Chief Supt. Agripino Javier, police director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

He also showed up before PNP Director Gen. Ronald dela Rosa after reports circulated that he was a drug lord in Maguindanao./rga

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