Lawyer slams attempt to link vet Bryan Ta-ala to Duterte slay plot

CIDG operatives arrested Wilford Palma and his boss Bryan Ta-ala last August 6 in Bacolod City for selling smuggled gun parts from US. At a press conference Thursday, Palma said they sold several parts of M-16 rifles to a client who said he would use the guns to assassinate President Duterte. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental — It’s a big lie.

This was the statement of Leon Moya, counsel of veterinarian Bryan Ta-ala, in response to attempts to link his client to the alleged assassination plot on President Rodrigo Duterte.

READ: 2 men caught smuggling gun parts ‘for Duterte assassination’

Moya claimed that his client was an “avid” fan of President Duterte and had campaigned for the Chief Executive in Negros Occidental in the May elections.

Alarmed and disturbed by the allegations against Ta-ala, Moya said they would be filing counter-charges against Criminal Investigation and Detection Group who arrested his client during an operation to seize loose firearms in Villa Cristina Subdivision in Barangay Tangub, this city, last Aug. 6.

Ta-ala was arrested with Wilford Palma but was not brought to Manila since he was confined to a hospital in Bacolod City.

Moya dismissed the allegations against Ta-ala  as a drama of the CIDG, whom he claimed “wanted only to magnify everything.”

The lawyer said the CIDG story was incredible.  “You would not go around the world talking that you wanted to kill somebody,” he said.

“Why buy gun parts in the United States when you can buy it anywhere in the Philippines. All you just need is money,” he added.  SFM