Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar (left) and President Rodrigo Duterte (right) INQUIRER FILES
MANILA — Malacañang has fended off accusations of employing a “double standard” in the government’s unrelenting anti-drug campaign following President Duterte’s admission that he had ordered the reinstatement of a senior police official tagged in the narcotics business.
Speaking over state radio DZRB, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar took exception to Sen. Leila de Lima’s claim that the President acted like he was the protector of drug syndicates when he lifted the administrative relief of Supt. Marvin Marcos.
Marcos is the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, which implemented a predawn prison raid that resulted in the killing of detained Albuera, Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
“The President is the President of the land and he is the number one protector of our laws in the land,” Andanar said in response to questions from members of the Malacañang Press Corps.
“I do not think and I do not believe, and it has not crossed my mind, that the President is what as you have said,” he said when asked to comment if Mr. Duterte was protecting drug syndicates.
De Lima, the staunchest critic of the President’s merciless anti-drug campaign, has questioned the Chief Executive’s decision to order Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa to let Marcos return to his post.
De Lima has been accused by the President and his political allies of receiving millions of pesos in drug money in exchange for allowing high-profile convicts to run their drug trafficking operations from the New Bilibid Prison when she was the justice secretary during the previous Aquino administration.
Mr. Duterte claimed he wanted to monitor Marcos’ movements because he was “tainted,” apparently giving credence to the allegations of Espinosa’s son, suspected drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, that the police official was also on the take as protector of his illegal drug business.
Andanar said De Lima was entitled to her own opinion regarding the President’s actions. “She is a senator of the land… Let our Department of Justice secretary answer her.”
As to Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s scathing remarks questioning the sincerity of the Duterte administration’s efforts to stem the illegal drug trade, he said the Palace respected the senator’s views.
Asked to comment on Lacson’s claim that there was double standard in the government’s treatment of erring police officials linked to illegal drugs, Andanar said: “What do you think? Maybe you should answer that question.”
“Any suggestions and objective criticisms coming from the Senate, from our wise men in the Senate, are accepted wholeheartedly and we shall be guided by any suggestions and any criticism as long as they are objective,” he said.
“We take the senator’s statement just like any person who gets criticized objectively and we take it openly. We will listen to him and we will also listen to our own Philippine National Police chief,” he added. SFM