DAVAO CITY — Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte was irked with what seemed a passive reaction from the Aquino administration on the incident at a rave party in Pasay City on Saturday which killed five.
Thus, he called for a late evening press conference Wednesday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City to share his sentiments over the incident and accused law enforcers of negligence.
He appeared near midnight and started with an apology to the members of the media for attending the conference on such short notice.
"I'm sorry but I really have to do this (press conference) because nobody from the higher office is talking about the incident," he said.
The tough-talking mayor scrutinized law enforcers in Pasay City on their operations for the Closeup Forever Summer concert.
READ: Autopsy report: 2 concert-goers died of heart failure, brain injury
“Alam ninyo (law enforcers) na ang entertainment events (concerts) ang market for illegal drugs. It was distributed in the concert grounds and it escaped your attention. Dapat maaga pa lang, nandoon na kayo at ang sniffing dogs. That’s a failure of intelligence,” he said.
He directed his remark to the city’s local police, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“Bakit wala kayo doon? Baka binayaran kayo or baka kayo talaga ang nagtutulak ng droga? Pag ginawa niyo talaga yan. You make the sign of the cross,” he added.
The incident stirred Duterte to decide a massive government reshuffling once he assumes office.
“I am putting a notice now to everybody. Lahat kayong mga taga-Muntinlupa, you ship out. Magbalot na kayo,” he said.
The mayor insisted that it would not be any ordinary reshuffling as he said he would assign policemen from Manila in rebel-controlled areas in Compostela Valley and Surigao in Mindanao.
“Or you might want to be the station commander sa Jolo,” he dared.
“When I reshuffle, I reshuffle. This time (in my administration), the government must prove to the people that they deserve the salary that the people are paying,” Duterte said in the press conference which ended at around 2:30 a.m. on Thursday.