Duterte: Ramos showed me list of generals, cops in drugs

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said former President Fidel Ramos showed him a list of military generals and policemen involved in illegal drug trade, when the latter was trying to convince him to run in the May presidential election.

In his speech before the Filipino community in Laos, the site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit this year, Duterte said the list was shown to him during one of Ramos’ four visits to his hometown of Davao City before the national polls.

“President Ramos went to Davao four times, not three times. Four. Tapos nung una, wala siyang pinakita, basta sabi lang niya, you must run because it’s about time that Mindanao would have its own President. ‘Yun lang ang usapan, limitado,” Duterte said.

“The second time, he was strongly urging me to run. Sabi niya, ‘ikaw lang ang makapigil nito kung papaano.’ Then he showed me a list ng mga—nandoon na, mga generals—sa droga. Pati pulis, gano’n kakapal, hindi ko pa binitawan ‘yung iba kasi vina-validate ko pa,” he added.

Duterte recalled how Ramos urged him to pursue the presidency, saying that the former President warned him that “this country will go to the dogs” if he did not run.

“Sabi niya, ‘if you do not run, sino ang patakbuhin natin?’ Sabi ko, ikaw sir? Huwag ako kasi wala akong pera pati hindi ako pang big time. Small time lang ako… Pinakita niya, what can you do with this? Sabi ko, nakita ko mga generals, gano’n. Hindi naman akin ‘yun. Pati yung kay De Lima, hindi ‘yun akin,” he added.

In July, or barely a week after assuming office, Duterte had publicly named police generals allegedly linked to drugs. He had also accused Sen. Leila de Lima, one of his staunchest critics, as the top executive allegedly behind the coddling of drug lords in the national penitentiary.

In his third visit to Davao, Duterte said Ramos brought with him a tennis bag containing P5 million in solicitations to fund the longtime mayor’s presidential campaign.

“Nung binuksan namin ni Bong pag-alis niya, P5 million. Pero sabi ko, ‘kanino ito sir?’ ‘Basta halo-halo na ‘yan.’ So hindi ko nga malagay sa election returns kung kanino galing. Anonymous eh, ayaw niyang sabihin. Sabi niya, hindi ko talaga pera yan so inipit na niya ako,” Duterte said.

Ramos, a vocal supporter of Duterte, was appointed special envoy to China following the arbitral tribunal’s ruling that favored the Philippines’ case over the disputed South China Sea./rga