Loot still working as mayor
Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot is in hiding for fear of his life but his wife, former mayor Maria Luisa Malou Loot, assured that her husband continues to function as mayor even if he is not at the Municipal Hall.
"Everything is working and everything is running," Malou told The FREEMAN.
She will not disclose her husband’s location, saying Loot has since received death threats after President Rodrigo Duterte linked him to the illegal drug trade last year and after the attempted ambush against him and his family in May this year.
“Dili ko katubag ninyo ha... naa man (si Vic Loot)… confidential pero dili namo itug-an asa,” she said.
Daanbantayan Vice Mayor Gilbert Arrabis also does not know of Loot's whereabouts but said Loot continues to sign documents and paperwork and transactions at City Hall have not been hampered. The department heads, for one, are on top of the programs and projects in the town, he said.
“Wala na ko kita niya diri sa munisipyo pero naa gihapon mga transactions, ang mga documents naa man iyang pirma,” Arrabis said.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office has not received reports of Loot hiding.
“So far, wala kaming nakikita or information na masasabi ng ating kapulisan na nagtatago siya,” CPPO Director Manuel Abrugena told reporters yesterday.
Daanbantayan police chief Adrian Nalua has said it has been two months since he saw Loot last during meetings at the municipality.
He said all transactions and communications between his office and the office of the mayor were all made through Loot's staff.
“Two months na sad nga wala na mi direct communication ni Mayor (Loot). Sa una kay mutawag man na siya kung naay mga mabantayan nga mga suspicious persons diri sa Daanbantayan nga ato dayun aksyonan,” Nalua told The FREEMAN.
NO PROBLEM
Governor Hilario Davide III said Loot did not file any application for a leave of absence but he does not mind where Loot is working from as long as he does not abandon his responsibilities.
He said he understands Loot's situation.
"Para tingali nako, as long as he transacts official business, he still performs his work as mayor… mahimo man siguro sa balay lang," Davide said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government agrees.
“The Office can be run bisag wala siya diha, hilabina sa receiving and for as long nahatag ra ang basic services, as long as nag-function siya, para namo okey ra. Ang importante man gud namo ana, kay nakapadayon og sweldo, wala mahunong ang operation, wala ma hamper ug padayon ang serbisyo,” said DILG-7 Director Jerome Gonzales.
SECURITY
It can be recalled that Loot was stripped of his administration and operational control over the PNP after President Rodrigo Duterte tagged him as being involved in the illegal drug trade.
On May 13 this year, a day before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, Loot and his family cheated death after they survived an ambush while disembarking from a passenger boat at the New Maya wharf in Daanbantayan.
Two policemen were assigned to secure Loot but were pulled out of the detail several months after.
“After ato kay magagi na og proseso. Ang gihatag nga security ug kung mu-request ilabi na if naay threats pero magagi gihapon og proseso,” Nalua said.
So far, Loot has not reached out to the police to ask for security assistance.
Meanwhile, Abrugena said their investigation into Loot's alleged involvement in the drug trade is ongoing.
“All actions to be taken ay naka-base sa legal foundation at mag-observe tayo ng constitutional rights,” he said.