A former ally of the Liberal Party, now allied with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) has come to the President’s defense amid criticisms that the President’s series of pronouncements linking certain people to the illegal drug trade even without clear proof go against the principles of due process.
In a talk with reporters, Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas said Duterte would not just name a person unless he was sure that there was evidence that would hold in court.
“The other thing I know of he is not only a lawyer, he has been a prosecutor. In other words, he knows the validity, the value of the evidence at hand,” Gullas said.
Reacting to Duterte’s plan to soon expose the names of mayors and other local officials coddling drug lords, Gullas also believed that Duterte would not name the mayors unless there was proof.
During a televised press briefing last July 7, Duterte showed a diagram of the country’s illegal drug operations on state-run PTV4 which bore the names of five generals and three alleged big-time drug lords.
The same chart also had a list of local chief executives allegedly coddling drug lords; however, the President quickly folded up the chart in order not to expose the names of the local officials to the public as he said, the exposé on the mayors would come some other time.
Citing intelligence information, Duterte said that there were a lot of mayors involved.
Speaking for the first district of Cebu to which Talisay City belongs, Gullas could not say for sure if there are mayors in his district involved in the drug trade, though he believes that there is none. Gullas heads the Alayon party which dominates the first district.
“That is my personal assessment but I could be very wrong. I don’t think there is anyone,” he said.
Asked if he approved of the President’s plan to name the mayors in public, Gullas said that he accepts Duterte’s “style.”
“Mao na iyang style sa Davao. Mao na iyang style for two decades, for all the years that he has been mayor of Davao. Lisod kaayo ug imong ilisan just because he is president. Mao gyud na ang style niya (That has been his style for two decades, for all the years that he has been mayor of Davao. It’s difficult to change it just because he is president. That is his style),” Gullas said.