Senator Francis Pangilinan declared on Friday that the opposition would not be silenced over Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s disclosure that a bagman had implicated Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts Senator Franklin Drilon and former Senator Manuel Roxas II as drug protectors.
In a statement, Pangilinan also dismissed the allegations against Drilon and Roxas as an effort by the Duterte administration to just divert public’s attention from the scandal that rocked the Bureau of Customs (BOC) concerning the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu, and the extrajudicial killings amid the government’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.
According to Pangilinan, the opposition would continue to speak out and uncover any misdeeds of the administration.
“Hindi po ito magpapatahimik sa oposisyon (This could not gag the opposition),” Pangilinan said. “Dapat magsalita at isiwalat ang hindi tama (We should speak against and expose wrongdoings).”
“Kalokohan at gawa-gawa lang ito ng adminsitrasyon para ilihis ang usapin sa mga kontrobersiya na kinasasangkutan nito tulad ng (P6.4 billion) na shabu smuggling (sa BOC) at ang araw araw na patayan dala ng tiwali at abusadong PNP [Philippine National Police],” he also said.
(These are just preposterous and made-up claims of the administration to divert the attention from different issues it is embroiled in, like the P6.4-billion drug smuggling at the BOC and the daily killings by the abusive PNP.)
Pangilinan said if the government was really serious in its illegal drugs crack down, the Duterte administration should go after those involved in the smuggling of the multi-billion pesos shabu from China.
“Nagtatanim o gumagawa ng ebidensya para idiin ang mga katunggali at dinodoktor ang ebidensya para makalaya at makalusot ang kakampi,” Pangilinan said.
(They plant or manufacture evidence to pin down their enemies and tampering the evidence to free and absolve their allies.)
On Wednesday, Aguirre said self-confessed “paymaster” Ricky Serenio of the Berya drug cartel tagged Drilon and Roxas as protectors of Melvin Odicta Sr., an alleged drug lord in Iloilo who was killed in August 2016 in Aklan.
Aguirre said Serenio had submitted last October 18 before the La Carlota City prosecutor’s office in Negros Occidental an affidavit purportedly indicating the alleged links of Drilon and Roxas in the drug trade. Aguirre has decided to treat Serenio’s affidavit as a complaint, and use it as basis for the DOJ’s preliminary investigation on the matter. /kga