Duterte: Let independent agencies probe my son
November 8, 2017 · By Mick Basa for www.rappler.com
‘Who will believe me if I investigate my son?’ Duterte told reporters Tuesday night, at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City
INVESTIGATE. The President met the media upon his arrival Tuesday, October 31, from a trip to Japan.
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte snapped back at detained Senator Leila de Lima for calling on him to pay attention to the alleged involvement of his son and son-in-law to a multi-billion drug scandal instead of implicating two members of the Liberal Party (LP).
“Who will believe me if I investigate my son?” Duterte told reporters late Tuesday night, October 31, at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport where he had just arrived from a trip to Japan.
Duterte was asked for his reaction to De Lima’s statement, made on October 30. She said the President should not waste time on investigating former LP presidential bet Manuel Roxas II and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on their alleged involvement in illegal drug trade.
He was told by the detained senator that rather than investigate the two, he should instead focus on his son, Davao Cit Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and presidential son-in-law Maneses Carpio.
But the President said he would rather let “independent agencies” conduct the probe, rather than himself.
Both Paolo Duterte and Carpio were tagged by opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in a P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China. But the two have long denied their alleged involvement.
In October, the tables were turned as the two LP leaders found themselves tagged in a drug scandal.
The allegation stemmed from an accusation as early as January, when a drug personality in Negros Island Region linked several policemen, law enforcers, politicians, judges and media men to the illegal drug trade in Negros Oriental.
Drug personality Ricky Serenio accused Roxas and Drilon of attempting to take over Berya Group as drug trade leader in Negros in 2015.
But the former administration’s party, LP, denied the said allegations, saying this was part of the Duterte administration’s plan to demonize opposition members and diverting the attention from the issues that hounded the government. – Rappler.com
