President Duterte on Wednesday said he believes that sacked Bacolod City police chief Senior Supt. Francisco Ebreo is at least a protector of drug personalities, citing information he had gathered.
Duterte made the statement a day after he met Ebreo in Malacañang Tuesday and also days after he fired him and four other Bacolod police officers for their supposed links to the illegal drugs trade.
In an interview with Malacañang reporters, Duterte said he thinks Ebreo is protecting drug syndicates, or if not, he is into the illegal drugs trade himself.
“At the very least, he’s a protector. He might not be in the trafficking business but he was really a protector,” he said on the sidelines of the welcome ceremony for Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
“I cannot believe that with all the information available to every chief of police, or city police director for that matter, assigned in the province, that you would not review the record of the province in terms of criminality and drug trafficking. Hindi pinag-aralan,” he added.
According to Duterte, he found it strange why top police officers would secure a hospital when a drug-linked councilor, whom he referred to as “Kano,” was taken there following an ambush.
“There was this…si Kano, a councilor, has been tagged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency almost a decade ago to be engaged in trafficking, na-ambush,” Duterte shared.
“There were about three ambushes before that incident na pumunta sila sa hospital, silang dalawa ng deputy niya. What’s their f***ing business going to the hospital of an ambushed drug lord? Tapos nag-iwan pa sila ng dalawang security,” he added.
The President said that he would have understood if other police officers were deployed to the hospital instead of the two highest officers of Bacolod.
“I could understand if you would send a topnotch investigator of the police, I would understand that. Pero kung sila dalawa mismo – the first and the second highest of police officials,” Duterte said.
“Nagtataka ako kung bakit ganoon. It’s a strange behavior,” he added. (Argyll Geducos)