Name Naga drug lords, Duterte urged
President Rodrigo Duterte’s refusal to prove his claims that Naga City is a hotbed of illegal drugs, specifically shabu, shows he is hallucinating, opposition lawmakers said on Tuesday.
Representatives Edcel Lagman of Albay and Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list, said this in connection with the statement of Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. that the President does not need to prove his claim about Naga and that the Naga City Council, which expressed indignation over the President’s statement, should not be onion-skinned.
“Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has forgotten his law ever since he became the official apologist of President Rodrigo Duterte. Roque’s claim that Duterte does not have to prove his accusation that Naga City was a hotbed of shabu, and it is for the Naga City officials to prove otherwise, desecrates the cardinal rule that ‘he who alleges must prove his allegation’ and the legal dictum that ‘he who asserts, not he who denies’, must prove,” Lagman said.
“Duterte’s charge is bereft of proof as he failed to name the alleged drug lords operating in Naga City and document the supposed volume of shabu which has been confiscated in Bicol’s acknowledged capital. A wild and gratuitous accusation is a virtual hallucination and an errant and feeble excuse is simply folly, which are both aberrations in law,” Lagman added.
Alejano backed Lagman’s stance, saying the President’s unverified comments is like firing a shotgun at a crowd.
“People in government should not be onion-skinned — Roque should say that to his principal. A loose mouth in government is destructive and dangerous. Where is the accountability? In the trash bin?,” Alejano added in a separate statement.
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo also earlier condemned the President’s remarks.
“Nobody can besmirch the name of Naga City that way because that is not the truth. Comments like these cannot be made just because I have to be insulted and so you drag the whole city to make a point,” Robredo said in her weekly radio show Biserbisyong Leni.
“The city can’t be insulted. Its officials and the people of Naga have worked hard to make sure the city is clean and governed well,” Robredo added.
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