GENERALS ON THE HOT SEAT

HAPPY TIMES. This photo was taken on July 13, 2015, the day Chief Supt. Vicente A. Loot retired from the police service as a one-star general, in a ceremony at Camp Sergio Osmeña presided by his friend and “mistah,” then Philippine National Police Deputy Director General Marcelo P. Garbo Jr. Loot received a Distinguished Service Medal, P2..4 million in retirement pay and P3.2 million for accumulated leaves. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

The two retired police generals from Cebu who were named by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the five generals protecting drug lords and syndicates never saw it coming.

One, Vicente Loot, is now trying to get an audience with the President to clear his name. The other, Marcelo Garbo Jr. — is currently in the United States but who, according to sources, is also reaching to friends who can get him to speak to the President.

Loot has openly acknowledged Garbo as a close friend, having graduated only a year apart of each other at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

Garbo was a graduate of Class 81 and Loot of Class 82.

But for Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, the newly designated director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), the fact that they were named by the President meant that he had to investigate the local police connections and contacts of Garbo and Loot in the region, particularly since both served Cebu for a long time before they retired. Loot and Garbo retired in July 2015 and March 2016, respectively.

“Part of the validation we’re making is to identify their police connections here. We have yet to complete the process,” said Taliño in a text message to Cebu Daily News yesterday.

Moreover, Taliño said they also have a list of policemen still in active service who were believed to be drug protectors, all of whom were now being investigated.

“I appeal to all the policemen in the region who serve either as protector, user, or peddler of illegal drugs to stop now or I will hunt them down,” he said.

Aside from Garbo, the former deputy general of the Philippine National Police, and Loot, the retired former director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CCPO), President Duterte on Tuesday also named Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz, who was just relieved as director for the PNP in Western Visayas (Region 6); former National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Joel Pagdilao, and former Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief Edgardo Tinio.

Garbo served as PRO-7 director from September 2011 until August 2013, while Loot, now the mayor of Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu, was the director of the CPPO from 2005 to 2007.

CDN tried to contact Garbo through the phone several times but the police general, who reportedly flew to the US last month, did not answer the calls. Text messages sent to him were also left unanswered.

I’m innocent

Loot insisted he was innocent and was targeted by his family’s political opponents.

“I’m the usual suspect, the target of black of propaganda,” he told CDN over the phone.

Loot’s wife Maria Luisa was mayor of Daanbantayan since 1998 but was defeated in her reelection bid by Augusto Corro in the 2013 elections. Three years later, in the elections last May 9, Loot won by seven votes against Corro in the mayoralty race.

Loot said he has been accused of being a drug coddler several times by his political enemies. One time, he said, a “white paper” that identified him as an illegal drug protector was sent to former President Benigno Aquino III in 2013. The paper purportedly came from the office of Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres who later denied making the accusations.

Loot, who also served as PNP assistant director for administration in Eastern Visayas (Region 8) from 2010 to 2013, said complaints were lodged against him but he was repeatedly cleared by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force.

“Had I not been cleared of the charges, I should not have been allowed to retire now. To set the record straight, I have not received even a single centavo from drug lords,” said Loot, who was director for PNP Training Service before he retired in 2015.

Clear my name

Loot, 56, said he would want to personally meet Duterte and PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to set the record straight.

“I want to clear my name. It’s not fair to me and my family to be accused of something I didn’t do. My conscience is clear and I have never been involved in illegal drugs,” he said.

In fact, he said, one of his agenda as mayor would be to intensify the anti-illegal drugs campaign in Daanbantayan.

“I promised myself that I will get rid of illegal drugs in my municipality in 100 days. And in 60 days, I particularly instructed my police chief to go after illegal drug personalities. That’s my plan and commitment,” he said.

The best group of people who could attest on his integrity, he said, would be the people of Daanbantayan.

“My constituents can tell you whether or not I’m involved in illegal drugs. Let them be the judge,” he said.

Loot also defended Garbo, saying it was not possible for the latter to be linked in drug protection racket.

PJ: Now I know

Former Cebu third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia welcomed the decision of Duterte to reveal the names of the police generals involved in illegal drugs.

“I can only speak about General Garbo because that’s the only name I’ve been hearing about. He worked tirelessly (for my) defeat in 2013 and again in 2016 even to the point of threatening my mayors. I’ve always wondered why. Now I know. Because he know I would never tolerate drugs,” he said in a text message to CDN.

Garbo, who was accused of siding with the then ruling Liberal Party, led the police officers in an attempt to force Pablo John’s sister, then Cebu Gov. and now third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, to move out of the Capitol after she was suspended by the Office of the President for grave abuse of authority.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he was shocked with the President’s revelations, saying Garbo was a good police officer.

“As far as General Garbo, I know him as a no-nonsense police officer so I’m surprised at this disclosure of President Duterte. I know him (Garbo). He served as regional director here. I know him to be a straight and honest police officer,” he told reporters.

“I’m a bit shocked but I have not changed the way I look at him. He’s a good police officer,” he said.

Davide said Garbo, by then a retiree, supported his reelection term last May.

“In fact, he wore yellow. So for me, he was really for good governance. He supported me on a personal basis because he told me he would help me although not financially,” he said.

Davide would not comment on Loot’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs, saying:

“I have no personal relations with him. I don’t know him very much. We’re not that close.”

‘A nice guy’

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, for his part, described Garbo as a “very nice guy.”

“I’m very close to him. As a matter of fact on my birthday he came. I was not the mayor then. We have common friends. But I never really work with him,” he said.

Osmeña said he never heard any derogatory remark against Garbo nor were there any links between the police general and the slain Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, the top drug personality in Central Visayas.

The mayor said he instead heard rumors that Chief Supt. Prudencio Tom Bañas and Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan — former PRO-7 directors — were allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

“That’s why I insisted on the change of Gaerlan and then I submitted a name which is (Chief Supt. Patrocinio) Comendador. Now Comendador is in the group identified with Garbo primarily because this is the group who did not like (former PNP chief Alan) Purisima,” he said.

Asked if the announcement of the President would affect his fight against illegal drugs, the mayor said there was only one way to find out and that would be if he would stop his own anti-illegal drugs program.

“I’ll just stop and let’s see if it will affect or not. I don’t know what to say, I don’t like to be presumptuous. But if it’s going to be like this, I’ll just stop.

The thing is that they have people in Manila making their decisions base on I don’t know what,” he added.

Clear conscience

Diaz, interviewed from Iloilo City, meanwhile, insisted: “God knows there is no truth to that. My conscience is clear.”

He said he didn’t know why the President implicated him in illegal drugs.

“I will submit myself for investigation in Camp Crame (the police national headquarters) tomorrow (July 6). I hope the investigation will be conducted immediately so I can clear my name,” he said on Tuesday./WITH REPORTS FROM JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN, CARMEL LOISE MATUS, CONNIE FERNANDEZ AND NESTOR P. BURGOS