Who fed the President the info?

President Rodrigo Duterte traces his roots to Cebu but he has long been based in Davao City. He was thus more knowledgeable of developments in Davao than in Cebu before he became president. Now, as the country’s head, he is brushing up on his knowledge about areas outside his turf. Here, info fed to him is crucial.

So who has been feeding the President with information about Cebu?

Last month, while speaking with reporters about the case of the Korean national killed inside Camp Crame in what has been described as a “tokhang-for-ransom” case, the President said, referring to a supposed Korean mafia: “It’s strongest in Cebu. If you ask anyone in Cebu or you go to Cebu for an investigative journalism, you will find out. Cebu is the hardest hit.”

That statement caught Cebuanos by surprise because contrary to what the President claimed, a “Korean mafia” does not operate in Cebu or if it does, its activities are not observable. Meaning, there simply is no proof of its existence here nor of Cebu being hit hardest by its activities. And this even after the recent arrest of nine Ko- reans in Lapu-Lapu city for alleged sex tourism.

Now comes the President’s claim made during the recent gathering of the Philippine Councilors’ League in Pasay City days ago that Cebu has the highest drug rate in country. Again, Cebuanos and our leaders were caught by surprise because like in the Korean mafia issue, this is the first time we have come across such a claim.

But what exactly did the President say? Here’s the actual quote in the report posted on the ABS-CBN website (news.abs-cbn.com):

“Ngayon, ‘yung iba diyan 40 percent of the total barangay captains of the entire Philippines, may tama sa shabu, about 6,000 policemen... Cebu has the highest rate of--hindi nila alam ‘to, for the first time sinasabi ko. Mag-abot siguro ng… Sabi ng nandiyan sa loob… But I think it’s about 60, 70…”

The statement, the data and the sourcing are vague, which is why Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino needs to communicate with the President on this to get some clarification, especially on its basis. Which in turn brings us back to the question: who exactly is feeding the President information about Cebu?