Sen. Leila M. de Lima said yesterday that the admission of President Duterte that he ordered the reinstatement of Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 chief Supt. Marvin Marcos who allegedly received protection money from suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa should be the subject of a Senate inquiry.
“After the Peter Lim episode, where a supposed drug lord kumpadre of the President is allowed to leave the country, we must start asking ourselves this question: Whether or not the President, rather than De Lima, is actually the No. 1 drug lord protector and coddler in this country,’’ De Lima said.
“Just as I thought. Since, per my source, it’s Bong Go who called PNP Chief Bato, then it must be the President who, directly or indirectly through Bong Go, gave such an order to reinstate Marcos,’’ De Lima added.
“I guess the President had no choice but to own it up instead of letting Bong Go, his closest aide, trusted confidant, and all around go-to guy, to be the fall guy in this incident,’’ De Lima said.
Go is a close confidant of Duterte. Their relationship dates back to the time Duterte was the Davao City mayor.
“But I don’t believe for a single moment Duterte’s cited reason for the reinstatement, that the President himself was hatching a cloak and dagger scheme to further entrap Marcos or his partners in the illegal drug trade,’’ De Lima said.
“We have had enough of these runaround explanations from Malacañang, and I’m sure there’s a deeper and, possibly, a more sinister reason for the President’s action. Otherwise, why would Gen. Bato go through this charade of pointing to a “kumpadre” instead of just admitting from the start that the President himself ordered the reinstatement?” she said.
“The President’s admission thus brought more questions than answers. This incident should be the subject of a Senate inquiry.”
“Let us once again start asking questions, for the truth to come out, and to put an end to Malacañang’s factory of lies and Orwellian doublespeak,’’ De Lima said.
Duterte has admitted that he had Marcos reinstated after he and his men were placed under restrictive custody by PNP chief Director General Roland “Bato” M. dela Rosa following the testimony of Kerwin before the Senate that he gave protection money to them. (Mario B. Casayuran)
