Malacañang asks for trust in Duterte amid errors on drug list

Trust the President.

Malacañang has that to say amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s admission of lapses on his drug matrix, which involved politicians.

“Maybe more than trusting the list, let’s trust the President. I mean after all, he has publicly said, I made a mistake. I apologize. I’m sorry,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing.

During an inspection of a shabu laboratory in Arayat, Pampanga, Duterte apologized in public to Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr., board member Raul Sison and former provincial administrator Rafael Baraan whom he accused of being protectors in the illegal drug trade.

READ: Duterte apologizes for lapses in drug matrix

The President said there was no concrete evidence linking the three officials to illegal drugs.

With his apology, Malacanang lauded the “humility” of the President.

“Would you rather have him just flood on and say, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ when actually there was a mistake? No, the point is … the one that we trust is not so much the list but the President himself who has the actual humility to be able to accept that he made a mistake,” Abella said.

Duterte had publicly named politicians, police officials and judges allegedly involved in the narcotics trade.

The President earlier asked for an extension of another six months to his self-imposed deadline to stop illegal drugs and criminality in the country.

READ: Duterte wants war on crime, drugs extended for 6 more months

He said he would not be cowed by various investigations meant to discredit his crackdown on illegal drugs.

His war on drugs, he said, wouldn’t stop until the last drug pusher was dead./rga

RELATED STORY

Duterte’s war won’t stop until last drug pusher is dead