Duterte links 150 judges, politicians to illegal drugs
Some names were incomplete, others had no rank or gov’t. position
Military personnel in President Duterte’s drug list ordered relieved
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte publicly linked more than 150 judges, mayors, lawmakers, police and military personnel to illegal drugs yesterday, ordering them to surrender for investigation as he ratcheted up his bloody war against what he calls a “pandemic.”
Duterte announced the drug list in his speech in Davao City. The list include, among them:
Judges: Judge Mopas of Dasmariñas, Cavite; a certain Judge Reyes of Baguio City; a certain Judge Savilo of RTC Branch 13, Iloilo City; a certain Judge Casipli of Kalibo, Aklan; Judge Rene Gonzales of MTC; a certain Judge Navidad of RTC Calbayog City; and Judge Ezekiel Dagala of MTC; and a certain Judge Dapa, Siargao.
In Visayas: Former Alex Centena of Calinog, Iloilo; Julius Ronald Pacificador of Hamtic, Antique; Jed Mabilog, Iloilo City; Wilfredo Salangutin Bietbeta, Carles, Iloilo; Mariano M. Malones of Maasin, Iloilo; former mayor Micheal Rama, Cebu City; ex-mayor Madeleine Mendoza-Ong, Laoang, Northern Samar; Hector Ong of Laoang, Northern Samar; Ronaldo Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte; Beda L. Cañamaque, Basay, Negros Oriental; Vice Mayor Francis Ansing Amboy of Maasin, Iloilo; Fralz Sabalones, San Fernando, Cebu; Antonio Pesina, Iloilo City; and, Erwin ‘Tongtong' Plagata, Iloilo City.
Congressmen: JC Rahman Nava, Guimaras; Congressman party-list Jeffrey Celis, Panay chapter; Congressman Guillermo Romarate Jr., Surigal del Nort.
Duterte promptly relieved members of the military and police he named from their current posts and ordered government security personnel to be withdrawn from politicians he identified in a nationally televised speech.
He also ordered gun licenses of those named revoked.
“All military and police who are attached to these people, I'm giving you 24 hours to report to your mother unit or I will whack you. I'll dismiss you from the service,” Duterte said in the speech at a military camp in southern Davao City.
Duty to public
He said that the list of politicians, judges and law enforcers given to him by the military and police might or might not be true, but that he had a duty to disclose to the public how the drug problem had become so pervasive.
“There is no due process in my mouth,” Duterte said. “You can't stop me and I'm not afraid even if you say that I can end up in jail.”
The list of names, which Duterte said included some friends, has been validated by authorities but did not contain details of the officials' alleged involvement to the drug trade or offer any evidence.
Some names were incomplete, while others had no rank or government position.
They included eight judges, as well as five retired and current generals. The rest were mostly town mayors and police officers.
“It's a pandemic,” said Duterte, a former mayor of Davao, where he built a reputation for his crime-busting style that allegedly involved extrajudicial killings.
Duterte's latest salvo ups the ante in his war on drugs, which has already left more than 400 suspected dealers and pushers dead and more than 4,400 arrested in more than a month since he took office.
Nearly 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities, hoping to avoid getting killed.