Priests, Tarlac folk hold rally supporting mayor tagged as ‘narcopolitician’

About 2,000 people gathered at a Nov. 10 prayer rally at the plaza of Concepcion town in Tarlac province to protest the inclusion of their mayor, Andres Lacson, in a list of narcopoliticians. INQUIRER / Maria Adelaida Calayag

CONCEPCION, TARLAC—About 2,000 people, including several Catholic prelates, gathered on Friday night (Nov. 10) at the town plaza for a two-hour prayer rally to protest the inclusion of Mayor Andres Lacson in a government list of suspected “narcopoliticians.”

Lacson was one of the 23 mayors who were clipped of their powers and control over the police upon the order of the National Police Commission (Napolcom).

READ: DILG strips governor, 23 mayors of power over police for alleged drug links

“Inosente ang mayor namin. Walang bisyo. Sinungaling ang report ng PDEA (Our mayor is innocent. He has no vices. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency report [linking the mayor to narcopolitics] is a lie),” chanted some of Lacson’s supporters, who came wearing red shirts after attending mass. Some of them wielded streamers and placards denouncing the latest list of “narcopoliticians.”

But the priests in the crowd counseled the supporters to be calm. “Let us wait for the truth to be revealed. Let us refrain from saying things which will not help the case,” said Fr. Mon Capuno of the Immaculate Conception Parish Church in his homily during the 5 p.m. mass held prior to the rally.

Addressing the protestors at the town plaza, Lacson said he had asked his wife to keep his children away from school. “It pains me to see them affected. I’m afraid their schoolmates would call them names,” the mayor said.

Lacson said he has asked the PDEA, Napolcom, the police and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, to review this latest narco list. “I am willing to let them investigate. I am willing to open our house and show them everything that I have. They can go and check everything,” the mayor said.

“Atin ku pung pangalagaang lagyu, eku buring marinatan ya ini (I have a name to protect. I don’t want my name to be smeared),” he said in Kapampangan.

“I was 18 years old when I entered politics. I became the vice mayor of this town for three terms and I am serving my second term as the mayor. I have never been involved in any illegal activities nor any drug related cases,” Lacson said. /jpv