President Rodrigo Duterte speaks for nearly two hours before the participants of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Visayas Island Cluster Conference held at Radisson Blu on Tuesday night, Aug. 21, 2018.
Enjoy the luxuries of life but beware.
So was the warning of President Rodrigo Duterte to Cebu’s law enforcers who he said have been involved in illegal drugs.
In his visit to Cebu City on Tuesday, he promised that there will be no let up in the campaign against narcotics and that Cebuanos can expect a harsher anti-drug program, especially in Talisay City, which. he said, has been a hotbed of illegal drugs.
“Ang pulis ninyo diri sa Cebu, puro addict. Halos tanan. Hasta ang ilang mga opisyal. Hasta ang inyong PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency), maski taas ug rango, mao pay distributor,” he said in a speech he delivered during the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Visayas Island Cluster Conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City.
(Your police here in Cebu are addicts. Almost all, including their officials, are into drugs. Your PDEA here as well; even those holding high positions are themselves the distributors of illegal drugs).
“You can enjoy a luxurious life and buy things you never have when you’re young, things you couldn’ t afford before. Enjoy it. If loglogon ka, tama lang. (If you get killed, you deserve it). If you’re a PDEA officer, you want good life, you want cars, you want women . . . Do not ever think that you’re a PDEA officer, a policeman, or a general. We’ll surely have an encounter,” he added.
The President’s statements came just when the local law enforcement authorities have still to solve the separate ambush and killing of two PDEA-7 officers — Baby “Earl” Rallos, who was shot dead along a busy street in Cebu City on July 27; and Von Rian Tecson, who was killed in Carcar City on Aug. 8.
President Duterte advised uniformed men who are into illegal drugs to stop their illegal operations or face the consequences of their actions.
“Do not do it during my time. That’s treason — the highest form of infidelity that you can commit to the country. If you use your office as platform for crime, that is a disrespect to the Filipino people,” he said.
Loot again
In his speech, the President once again mention the alleged drug links of retired police general and now Mayor Vicente Loot of Daanbantayan town.
“Ikaw Loot. Kasayang sa pagka-PMAer nimo. (Philippine Military Academy). Gastos sa tawo. Ilang beses ka na na-ambush. Matatag ka talaga. Huwag mo ako takutin. (You Loot. You wasted your being a graduate of PMA. The people spent for your studies. You’ve been ambushed a number of times, and yet you survive. You’re really strong. Do not threaten me),” said President Duterte in a profanity-laden outburst.
President Rodrigo Duterte joins Visayan leaders during the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Visayas Island Cluster Conference held at Radisson Blu on Aug. 21, 2018.
Last May 13, Loot and his family survived an ambush by unidentified men while they were about to dock at a port in Daanbantayan town. His driver and a boatman sustained gunshot wounds and were treated at the hospital.
Cebu Daily News tried but failed to reach Loot for a statement on Tuesday.
During his speech, President Duterte did not mention Cebu businessman and his kumpadre (wedding co-sponsor) Peter Lim who was ordered arrested by the Makati City court following his indictment for “conspiracy to commit drug trading.”
The country’s most powerful official said his war on drugs will continue even if it means more bodies of drug suspects will pile up on the streets.
“Tomorrow, there will be people who will die. Human rights advocates say I’m killing people. My God, I will not allow my country to go to the dogs. You will never succeed as long as I am the President. I will get all of you,” President Duterte said.
“Never mind if I go to jail. I’m already old. Just bring me books there. I love to read. And also don’t remove conjugal visits at jail. I’m not scared of going to prison but I’m scared of getting lonely,” he added.
What comatose?
It was President Duterte’s first public appearance since Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison shared on his Facebook account on Sunday that Duterte has gone into coma — an allegation people close to the President immediately denied.
Clad in a white polo shirt and black slacks, Mr. Duterte entered the venue without any aide closely assisting him as he went up the stage at around 7:10 p.m. or an hour and a half late than his scheduled arrival.
The President was in high spirits but was wiping his nose in some instances.
He first told the mayors that his speech would only be for two minutes, but it ran to close to two hours.
Over an hour into his speech, the President criticize Sison for making it appear that he was on the verge of death.
“Comatose, comatose ka diyan. Matagal pa ako. Sige tingnan natin. Puntahan kita dyan, galing ko sa Israel. Tingnan natin. (What comatose are you talking about? I still have more years to live. Let us see. I will visit you in Norway after my trip to Israel). You are not a man. You’re spent. You are talking nonsense. You’re a discredited leader,” he said.
“Let me just disabuse the mind of Sison. His mind is so abused. You know Mr. Sison, you’re taking refuge in another country and yet you’re not paying anything. You’re sick of cancer, in and out of the hospital. I pity the Norwegian people. Stop it. Mahiya ka naman. (Be ashmed of yourself). You’ll never win. I assure you, if we see each other in hell, I will slap you in the face.”
President Duterte also lashed out at his usual critics — the Commission on Human Rights and Catholic Church leaders.
He said even the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot stop him from going after those involved in the illegal drug trade.
“You cannot acquire jurisdiction over my person over the next one million years,” he said.
Church and God
He also reiterated a controversial statement that he doesn’t believe in the God of Catholic priests and bishops.
“Because if you use the platform of religion to attack a politician or official in government, you open the sacredness of your God. Your God is stupid. My God is reasaonble and has common sense. You (priests and bishops), you just keep on attacking me,” he said alluding to the manner Church leaders criticize him for encouraging law enforcers and people to kill criminals.
“But I believe that there is a God, a universal mind. He controls the universe. Otherwise, Earth will collide with other bodies. And yet we’ve been here for 4.5 billion years. There has to be a God,” he added.
“The problem is I don’t know how he works. If you’re a God, then why did you create hell and wars. If there is a God, then there should be no poverty, and nobody dies of hunger.”
Politics
About 200 mayors from different municipalities in the Visayas showed up during the event.
Also present were Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Senators Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, and Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangundadatu, all of whom were being eyed to run as Senators for the May 2019 midterm elections.
Several local officials from Cebu were also present such as Toledo City Mayor John Henry Osmeña, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, and former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.
Mr. Duterte’s visit on Tuesday was his fifth in Cebu this year. Cebu delivered more than two million votes for the former mayor of Davao City in the 2016 presidential elections.
“I ask you to improve your performace as mayor. No matter how small your town is, you are the president there. You are representing me as president of your own republic. You have to enforce the law against all,” he said, adding that the 2019 elections will be non-partisan.
“No partisan politics. Private armies shall vanish. All will be disarmed,” he said. /WITH REPORTS FROM NESTLE L. SEMILLA AND BENJIE B. TALISIC