Roxas ordered Loot killed, Duterte claims

Former Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II ordered his former police aide and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot killed, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday.

Duterte, in a speech in Davao City, first denied any involvement in the ambush before he tagged Roxas in the crime.

"Si Loot, dalawang beses na inambush hindi mapatay-patay. Hindi ako ang nagpa-ambush sa kanya, si Roxas," the President said in Cebuano.

"Sinabihan siya na 'yang senior police aide mo nasa droga 'yan. Kaya nagalit si Roxas. Sabi niya patayin na lang ninyo para hindi tayo mapahiya. So inabutan na ng panahon ko [bilang presidente]," he added.

GMa News Online is getting a statement from Roxas on the issue.

Loot survived an ambush that wounded his driver-bodyguard at a wharf in Daanbatayan on May 13.

Duterte accused Loot, along with other police generals, of protecting drug lords.

The mayor denied the President’s allegation, saying in a statement in 2016 that he would not have the power to protect any criminal because the last seven years of his police service had been "purely administrative in nature.” — BAP, GMA News