Mar: No ‘Roxas generals’

MANILA, Philippines – Defeated presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II yesterday cried foul over insinuations that he was connected to the police generals tagged by President Duterte as either protectors of or directly involved in the illegal drug trade.

Reacting to online reports, Roxas clarified that his “professional working relationship” with some of these officials started when he was secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and “ended when I tendered my resignation in 2015.”

“It has come to my attention that some online sites and traditional media outlets have branded certain individuals as ‘Roxas generals’,” Roxas said, stressing: “To be clear: there are no ‘Roxas generals.’ The persons named were not part of my campaign.”

“One thing is certain: there are still those who attempt to smear my name and reputation, long after the campaign is done,” he said.

Roxas, standard bearer of the Liberal Party in the last elections, said a lot of misinformation was being disseminated on social media.

One was that all five police generals were in active service when in truth two of them had retired several months before the May 9 polls.

He noted that one even ran for mayor and supported Duterte instead of him, apparently referring to Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot, a retired police general and a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1982.

Duterte named Loot and retired police Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr. as two of the police generals allegedly involved in illegal drugs, along with active Chief Supts. Joel Pagdilao, Edgar Tinio and Bernardo Diaz.

Garbo was reportedly a vocal supporter of Roxas during the May 9 presidential elections while Diaz was one of the officials supposedly seen at a meeting at the Novotel in Cubao, Quezon City with a Roxas supporter before the polls.

Despite lacking any clear basis, Roxas said the insinuation was that these individuals campaigned for him in the last elections.

“Let me emphasize that I have never supported nor encouraged illegal drugs. It is a plague that afflicts families, rich or poor, and destroys the fabric of family life,” Roxas said.

During his tenure at the DILG, Roxas said one of the priorities for the Philippine National Police was to escalate the fight against illegal drugs.

He boasted that billions of pesos worth of illegal drugs were confiscated, and hundreds arrested and charged, in fulfillment of his directives.

“If there is any truth to the allegations that these people have anything to do with the drug trade or those who run it, I believe that the proper course of action is to file charges against them in accordance with due process, instead of engaging in innuendo and circulating rumors,” Roxas said.

He called on his fellow Filipinos to be critical of websites pretending to report straight news but were in fact involved in propaganda and misinformation.

“I have trust and confidence in the real journalists and responsible members of media. Professionalism demands that they will not allow these websites to drive the news agenda on this issue,” Roxas said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe