Ex-Iligan officials on drug list to seek meeting with Duterte, willing to face probe

Two former Iligan City public officials on Tuesday said they will seek an audience with President Rodrigo Duterte to personally tell him that they are willing to be subjected to investigations to prove that they are not in any way involved in the illegal drug trade.

"I am willing, together with [former] mayor of Iligan, Lawrence Cruz, to submit ourselves for investigaiton. Pakiusap lang kay Presidente sana mabigyan kami ng chance to explain to him at saka we are begging for investigation," former Iligan City representative Vicente Belmonte told News To Go.

He added: "I deny any involvement sa droga. Never in my life, maski noong ako pa ang chairman ng [House of Representatives committee on] dangerous drugs, wala po akong paryente, kamag-anak, drug lord, o drug protector. Hindi po totoo iyan."

Belmonte also said that when he was congressman, he actively campaigned against illegal drugs and even asked the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to put up a satellite office in the city. He said these efforts led to the arrest of several drug personalities in the city.

Belmonte said that he and Cruz believe that local politics had something to do with their inclusion into Duterte's drug list.

In a speech in Malacañang on Monday, Duterte revealed that the two former Iligan City officials and a Mayor Willie Lim of Lugait, Misamis Oriental, are included in his list of more than 1,000 public officials allegedly involved in drugs.

While he declined to name who could have "manipulated" their inclusion in the drug list, Belmonte mentioned that incumbent Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia had been making public pronouncements that "they will file a list consisting of the [former] mayor and former congressman as drug lords of Iligan."

Regencia has been serving as mayor while in jail in connection with the former congressman's ambush in 2014, where three people were killed.

Belmonte, meanwhile, said that he believes Duterte had nothing to do with his wrongful inclusion into the narcolist.

"Hindi kasalanan ng Presidente ito. We can only find that [out] through investigation. That's why we are submitting ourselves to investigation," Belmonte said.

Go to Iligan City, ask around

In a separate News To Go interview, Cruz said that he had called up the current city police director and the local chief of the PDEA to clarify Duterte's announcement and both officials denied that they had something to do with his name's inclusion in the list.

"Nagtataka ako kung anong source itong nakikita sa listahan ng Presidente... I would tend to agree with our congressman, Vicente Belmonte, magkaksama kami sa Liberal Party. Siguro local politics... He (local politician) must somebody who has access to the list of the president... Puwedeng napalagay ang pangalan namin doon," he said.

"I will discover this name. We will do everything within legal means that he will be punished for this," he added.

Cruz said that Duterte should send his own investigating team to Iligan City to verify their supposed involvement in illegal drugs.

"We are willing to be investigated. The president can send his men to Iligan City, go around, investigate, ask questions. Talagang wala kaming kinalaman talaga," the former mayor said. —ALG, GMA News