Explosive and damaging revelations

There is no longer any shadow of doubt that Duterte is not leveling up with the Filipino people. The best proof of this deplorable fact is the much vaunted war on drugs which is one of his campaign promises he made when he ran for President, and apparently a reason for his victory. When he assumed office in 2016, he proudly declared that he will solved this menacing and seemingly unsolvable problem in a matter of three months. But when the deadline of three months came, he extended it to six months. Then after six months, no more deadline was set.

Thus since then, the war on drugs has dragged on. The main feature of this war was “Oplan Tokhang” which involves the killing of mere suspects who are mostly poor people but who are allegedly drug addicts, drug users and pushers although they have not yet been charged and proven guilty. “Tokhang” has claimed the lives of thousands of poor people mostly living in slum areas and unable to protect themselves from the aggressive assaults of well armed members of the Philippine National Police. Most noticeable in this operation is that not a single drug lord (recognized as the real arch enemy in this war), has been killed or even captured. The only known drug lord mercilessly murdered by the police was already incarcerated and with a pending case in court. 

As “Tokhang” silently rages on, more helpless victims are killed. Yet there seems to be no end in sight about this longstanding and deadly problem. Most ironic and astonishing in this connection is that only a week ago, Duterte himself admitted that the illegal drug trade has actually worsened despite the government’s relentless drive to eliminate it.

This admission and complete turn-around from his previous stance to end the drug problem before he steps down, has undoubtedly caused most Filipinos to conclude that this war on drugs is a hoax and that Duterte is not telling the real situation on this war. The more damaging but not entirely baseless conclusion here is that Duterte himself or some members of his family may be involved in illegal drug trade. People cannot help but arrive at these conclusions because of the recent revelations about the relationship of Duterte and his son Paolo with some people allegedly engaged in illegal drug trade.

The first revelation was made by no less than a former official of the PNP Anti-illegal Drugs Task Force, Eduardo Acierto who declared recently that he has submitted a report to Duterte warning him about the involvement of two Chinese businessmen, Allan Lim and Michael Yang, in the illegal drug trade. Both of these Chinese are apparently close to Duterte as shown by photographs depicting the three of them together. In fact, Michael Yang is a presidential economic adviser whose resignation last Dec. 31, 2018 only became known after the revelation was made. In his recent expose, Acierto said that his report was not acted upon and verified. Instead he is now the one facing illegal drugs complaint and the target of threats, with a P15-million reward for his capture, thus forcing him to go into hiding. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency even claimed that he was part of the group that facilitated the smuggling of P6.8 billion worth of shabu hidden inside magnetic lifters that slipped past the Bureau of Customs and ended up in a warehouse in Cavite. One intriguing aspect of this smuggling is that up to now, no further action has been taken to identify and prosecute its mastermind. Acierto’s disreputable background is not a strong basis to disbelieve his revelations. Even a convict may be telling the truth. Indeed Acierto’s latest revelation has a ring of truth simply because this is a preemptive move that may even save him from the various threats to his life because if he is killed now, the main suspects will be those involved in his revelation since they are the only ones who have a motive to silence him.

The other revelation giving rise to a lot of people’s conclusion that Duterte and his family may be involved in the illegal drug trade is the video of a certain “Bikoy” circulating in social media detailing the supposed connection of Paolo Duterte to a drug syndicate where he was tagged as one of the principals who received millions of kickbacks in the illegal drug trade. The narrative showed a Tara or list of principals and their kickbacks that were deposited in the alleged drug lord’s bank account code named “PoloDELTA-TSGO1” and “ALPHA TIERRA BO29.” The narration claimed that “Polo Delta” referred to Paolo Duterte as represented by his initials while the bank accounts were owned by Waldo Carpio, the brother of Manases Carpio who is the husband of Sara Duterte. The video further narrated that Paolo’s code name is tattoed on his back which explains why he refused to show said tattoo during one of the Congressional investigations on the illegal drug trade.

Of course Paolo Duterte has denied the expose and described it as a mere fabrication. In his post on Facebook page, he assailed a certain “J.S.” whom he tagged as being behind the video and who is a well known rice and sugar smuggler. He said that J.S. is mad at him because he snubbed  said J.S. on a flight due to the latter’s arrogance. But now he said that he will give him attention “with my hand as big as your face.”

It must be pointed out in this connection that bare denials and threats of retaliation are not enough to disprove the above exposes. Duterte should order a thorough probe of this revelations so that cases can be filed in court. This is the only way to erase the people’s unsavory conclusions which are quite damaging to Duterte and his family.

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