LOOT
Controversial retired police general Vicente Loot, now the mayor of Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu, is back in the limelight after President Rodrigo Duterte named him anew yesterday as among the police officers and elected officials who are in his second list of personalities involved in the illegal drug trade.
This time, the president did not only link Loot to drug operations in Cebu and other areas in the Visayas but also in four regions in Luzon – Ilocos (Region 1), Cagayan Valley (Region 2), Central Luzon (Region 3) and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) or Region 4.
“Kagaya si Loot, Region 1 nandyan yung pangalan niya. General Loot, Region 2, nandoon ang pangalan niya. Region 3 nandoon pangalan niya. Region 4 nandoon. (Take a look at Loot, his name was in Region 1. General Loot. His name was also in Region 2. In Region 3 his name was also there, as well as in Region 4). What does that mean? It means to say that wherever he was assigned, he was into drugs. That is what it means,” revealed the President.
The president, in a speech broadcasted nationwide by the state-run television network, used Loot as an example as he expressed dismay over the long list of personalities in the so-called “narcotics list” that included names of congressmen, governors, city and municipal mayors, town and city councilors and barangay captains.
The president was speaking before soldiers gathered at the Philippines Army’s 5th Infantry Division (5 ID) headquarters in Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela on Saturday when he waved around a thick folder of papers that have the names of those in government linked to the illegal drug trade.
The President said he found it extremely disturbing that the very people in government supposed to be in the forefront of the war against drugs – from policemen down to barangay captains – are themselves involved in the illicit trade.
It was not the first time that the name of Loot was mentioned by President Duterte on live nationwide television broadcast.
The first was in July when he and other four police generals were identified by the president as protectors of big time drug lords. Loot and another retired police general from Cebu, Marcelo Garbo, allegedly protected the big time drug lord in the Visayas. The other so-called “narco generals” were Police Director Joel Pagdilao and Chief Superintendents Edgardo Tinio and Bernardo Diaz.
Never been there
Loot, when sought for comment yesterday, sent a statement to Cebu Daily News through his spokesman, lawyer Niel Balili, stressing that he was never assigned in the regions mentioned by the president.
“I was never assigned to Regions 1,2,3,4 or to any juicy position or command that deals with anti-drug operations from graduation in 1982 until my assignment with Regional Anti Narcotics Unit 7 based in Cebu for two years from 2000 and 2001 only,” Loot, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), said in his statement.
Loot pointed out that from 2002 to 2004, he was assigned at the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) Visayas field before he became the provincial director for the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) from 2005 to 2007.
After his stint as Cebu’s provincial police director, Loot said he was assigned to the Human Resource Division of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) until December 2008; became the chief of staff for PRO-7 from January to December 2009; and deputy regional director for operations (DRDO) at PRO-7 from January to July 2010.
After his Cebu assignment, Loot said he was transferred to Eastern Visayas (PRO-8), first as DRDO (August-October 2010) and later as deputy regional director for administration (November 2010-December 26, 2012).
From Eastern Visayas, Loot went to Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police, to become the director for training services of the PNP until his retirement in July 2015.
His service records, Loot pointed out, showed that since 2007 until his retirement, he no longer held any command position on any PNP unit that engaged in anti-drug or anti-criminality operations.
“My career revolved only in Cebu until 2010 and Tacloban City (Eastern Visayas) until 2012 then (Camp) Crame until retirement … The last seven years of my career was spent purely on units of administrative positions and functions and none of any anti-criminality operations. Hence, I cannot promise any drug personality any protections,” he added.
Politics?
However, Loot implied that his alleged links to illegal drugs might have some political color, as he pointed out that it was “just unfortunate” that he had political opponents “who had hired a long time ago a public relations consultant in the name of Jonji Gonzales who owns a PR firm” who is now the chief of staff of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino.
When CDN asked Loot who were the political rivals he was referring to, he sent text messages to CDN naming them as siblings: Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Corro Radaza and former Daanbantayan mayor Augusto Corro.
Corro has a pending electoral protest against Loot, who defeated him by just seven votes in the elections last May.
Corro also filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) a petition to disqualify Loot from holding the office of mayor of Daanbantayan for alleged election offenses and asked that the latter be charged criminally. The protest was filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) while the petition for disqualification was filed before the Comelec last May 19.
Loot, in another text message sent through Balili, said his being “too friendly and helpful to anybody” was also a bane instead of a boon. “Because of that reputation, anybody who uses or drop my name is sure to get assistance from other government agencies. I’ve heard reports of scalawag policemen dropping my name in their illegal business. Nabaligya ug nahalin maayo ako ngalan (My name was repeatedly sold and bought),” Loot added.
Gonzales, when reached for comment, issued this statement:
“I am just an ordinary person. I am in no capacity to influence the president on such matters. Who am I that the president will listen to me with regards to such very sensitive topic. I was never involved in any local political campaign in the last elections.”