Leni’s camp scorns claim Jesse’s brod into drugs

It’s “insulting and laughable” for Malacañang to dignify the “wild allegations” made by a former Naga City councilor that a brother-in-law of Vice President Leni Robredo is involved in illegal drugs, her camp said on Wednesday.

Lawyer Ibarra Gutierrez said ex-Councilor Luis Ortega had had a reputation for launching “publicity stunts.”

Gutierrez was reacting to a statement by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque that authorities should investigate Teodoro’s claim that Butch Robredo, brother of the Vice President’s late husband, Jesse, was involved in narcotics.

“It’s important that we know the truth because the Vice President is also serving our country,” Roque said in a radio program on Wednesday.

The Vice President and the Naga City council earlier disputed President Duterte’s claim last week that the city was a “hotbed of ‘shabu’ (crystal meth).”

Ortega’s allegation

Gutierrez, who is also Robredo’s spokesperson, said Roque should check the veracity of Ortega’s allegation.

“I hope Secretary Roque would first check with his (Philippine National Police) before he rode on this publicity stunt, because [Mr. Duterte’s] statement that Naga City is a hotbed of shabu has already been squarely disputed by their own [law enforcement] officials,” Robredo’s spokesperson said in a phone interview.

He also criticized Roque for passing the buck to Robredo by suggesting that the Vice President should be asked what she had done to fight illegal drugs.

“(Roque) seems to have forgotten that VP Leni (Robredo) had never been a local official of Naga City,” Gutierrez said.

This was not the first time that Ortega came out with such “ridiculous” claims, Gutierrez said of the former councilor who lost to six-term Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo in the 2010 elections.

“The people of Naga have every reason to be disgusted by such irresponsible statements because that is simply not true, especially since [Naga has] just been declared one of the country’s most competitive cities,” he added.—WITH A REPORT FROM CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO