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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY April 1 - 15, 2019
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Narco list battle breaks out in the Philippines
Who are the politicians behind the
illegal drug trade in the Philippines?
That depends on which side of
the political divide is talking.
On the part of the government led
by President Rodrigo Duterte, there are
politicians, including congressmen,
who are involved in drugs.
For certain quarters opposed to
the current administration, they claim
some members of Duterte’s family
and close circle are protecting drug
systems.
These accusations and counter-
accusations are all leading up to the
May 13 mid-term national and local
elections.
On March 14, Duterte released the
names of 46 local officials allegedly
involved in the illegal drug trade.
Duterte read the names of 33
mayors, eight vice mayors, three
congressmen, a board member, and
a former mayor.
Before reading the list, Duterte said
his decision to name the suspected
drug personalities was anchored on
his trust on the government agencies
who had vetted the narcolist.
According to the President,
the Department of the Interior and
Local Government (DILG) filed
administrative cases against the
officials on March 14, 2019, at the
Office of the Ombudsman.
The
Anti-Money
Laundering
Council
and
the
Presidential
Anti-Corruption
Commission
also conducted their respective
investigations which aided the
government in filing air-tight cases
against the local officials in the list.
“Remember that public office is
a public trust. An official’s right to
privacy is not absolute and there is
a compelling reason to prioritize the
interest of the state and the people,”
Duterte said.
“As your President, my ultimate
concern is the pursuit of order in
government and the welfare of the
Filipino people,” he added.
“My administration assures you
of our dedication to change the lives
of Filipinos now, not tomorrow,” he
continued.
But then, starting in early April,
a series of videos featuring a certain
person named Bikoy started to
circulate online.
Videos uploaded on YouTube show
Bikoy, allegedly a former member of
a drug syndicate, claiming he had
records of “tara” or grease money
allegedly deposited into the accounts
of drug lords with the code names
“POLODELTA-TSG01” and “ALPHA
TIERRA-0029.”
He said the tara records started in
the year 2010.
It said the “POLODELTA-
TSG01” accounts allegedly belong to
Duterte’s son former vice mayor Paolo
Duterte while the “ALPHA TIERRA-
0029” accounts allegedly belong to
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Waldo
Carpio, a sibling of Manases Carpio
who is the President’s son-in-law and
husband of Davao City Mayor Sara
Duterte.
Bikoy claimed P170 million and
P210 million were transferred to Paolo
Duterte’s purported account under an
international bank in 2018.
In the video, Bikoy said he
personally saw Paolo’s dragon
tattoo which supposedly bears the
alphanumeric code used by the
former vice mayor in his tara.
The video narrator then challenged
Paolo to show his tattoo once and for
all.
Bikoy also claimed that there
were money deposits in the name of
Duterte’s daughter Kitty and former
special assistant to the president and
now senatorial candidate Christopher
‘Bong’ Go.
Paolo Duterte charged that it was
opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes
IV who was behind the videos, a claim
denied by Trillanes.
In
a
statement,
Trillanes
congratulated the people behind the
videos that allegedly linked the Duterte
family to illegal drugs. “Having said
that, I really wish I was part of the
making of the videos so I could relish
these moments but sadly I am not,”
he said.
“Anu’t ano pa man, hindi talaga
natutulog ang Diyos,” he added.
He again criticized President
Duterte, saying the truth “has
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
finally come to haunt you.” He also
challenged the President to sign a
bank secrecy waiver to prove he is not
corrupt.
He also renewed his challenge to
the President’s son to show his back
tattoo. “Ikaw naman Polong, ipakita
mo na lang ang likod mo, ang dami
mo pang arte,” he said.
Trillanes earlier accused the
younger Duterte and his brother-in-
law Manases Carpio of involvement in
drug smuggling.
They faced off in a Senate hearing
in 2017, where Trillanes asked Duterte
to show his back tattoo, allegedly of a
“colored and dragon-like figure,” but
the vice mayor refused, invoking his
right to privacy.
The senator, a long-time critic
of the President, said he got the
“intelligence information” that the
younger Duterte was part of a drug
triad from a foreign source he did not
name.
The former vice mayor has sued
Trillanes for libel over the allegations.
In a statement, Paolo Duterte again
refused to show his back tattoo.
“I will not show the tattoo on my
back and make things easier for Mr.
Trillanes. Instead, I dare him and
everyone behind the stupid and empty
video exposé to back their claims
against me,” he said.
The President’s son is running
for
congressman
of Davao City’s first CONT NEXT PAGE