Mayor: We don’t know the basis of Duterte’s claim that Naga is a shabu hotbed

President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to elaborate how Naga City is a "hotbed of shabu," days after he unleashed the comment.

Naga City Mayor John Bongat said Thursday that it is difficult to determine what makes Duterte presume that the city was a shabu hub when the drug can be found throughout the country.

"Shabu is not [particular] to one city alone. It is existent in all cities in the country, hindi lang naman Naga, buong Pilipinas yata," Bongat said in an interview on Balitanghali.

"Mahirap kasi sabihin na hotbed, pero hindi namin alam kung anong basehan," he continued, noting that Naga City has never stood out in reports as a source of shabu.

Duterte called Naga a "hotbed of shabu in the past years" while questioning the ability of Vice President Leni Robredo to succeed him as president.

Robredo is the widow of Jesse Robredo, who served as Naga mayor from 1988 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010. He was serving as Interior and Local Government Secretary in the Aquino administration when he died in 2012.

Bordado was Jesse Robredo's vice mayor from 2004 to 2010, when he succeeded to the top post.

Bongat added that Duterte did not establish when Naga City supposedly became a "hotbed" for illegal drugs.

"Hindi naman malinaw sa akin, halimbawa bilang alkalde, kung kailan yun. Posible during the term of Mayor Robredo or during my term. I have been mayor of Naga since 2010," said Bongat.

He said he was shocked by Duterte's statement, adding that this was the first time Duterte said anything about Naga City regarding illegal drugs, and that there were not government reports of big drug personalities in the city.

"'Di natin ma-deny, meron naman kahit saan, pero lahat naman ng efforts ng PNP, which is under the DILG and the Office of the President, malamang meron silang datos patungkol sa shabu, na hindi lang naman sa lungsod ng Naga kundi sa buong Pilipinas," Bongat said.

He added that it is important to add context to Duterte's claims, saying that it "will cause alarm" among residents "unnecessarily."

Bongat said that Naga City's Dangerous Drugs Board and Life Counseling Center are active with anti-drug intervention programs, and that the national DDB even gave the city a P5-million grant to construct an aftercare facility for recovering drug dependents.

Bongat also noted that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has never made a "categorical statement" proclaiming Naga City as a drugs hotbed at any time.

A day after Duterte's statement, Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año and DDB chairman Catalino Cuy said the claim is still under continuous validation. — Rie Takumi/BM, GMA News