A former ranking police official on Saturday denied President Rodrigo Duterte’s new allegation against him that he was involved in drug operations in several regions.
“FYI (for your information), I was never assigned to Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4 or to any juicy position or command that deals with anti-drug operations from graduation in 1982 until my assignment with Regional Anti-Narcotics Unit 7 (RANU7) based in Cebu for two years from 2000 and 2001 only,” former police chief superintendent and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot said in a statement.
The statement came after Duterte, during his visit at at the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 5th Infantry Division in Gamu, Isabela, mentioned that Loot’s name is “all over” the final report on the alleged involvement of government officials in illegal drugs.
“Kagaya si Loot sa Region 1 nandiyan ang pangalan niya. General Loot nandyan sa Region 2, Region 3, Region 4. What does that mean? Whenever he was assigned he was into drugs, that is what it means,” the President said.
Loot said that since 2007 until July 2015, he no longer held command positions that conducts anti- drugs or anti-criminality operations.
“The last 7 years of my career was spent purely on units of admin positions and functions and none of any anti-criminality operations, hence, I cannot promise any drug personality of any protection because I don’t command any unit involved in anti criminality operations much more with drugs,” he said.
“I was just unfortunate to have as political opponents, politicians who have hired long time ago until now a PR (public relations) consultant named Jonjie Gonzales, who owns a PR firm and now the chief-of-staff of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino,” Loot said.
The retired police official stressed that his career revolved around in Cebu until 2010, Tacloban until 2012, and Camp Crame until his retirement.
Loot mentioned that he held various positions in Region 7 and 8 as opposed to Region 1, 2, 3, and 4 mentioned by the President.
He said his assignments include:
- Assigned at the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime Visayas field – 2002-2004
- Provincial director of Cebu Provincial Police office – 2005-2007
- Regional Personnel & Human Resource Development Division of Police Regional Office 7(PRO7) – December 2008
- Chief-of-staff PRO7 up to December 2009
- Deputy regional director for operation (DRDO) of PRO7 – January 2010 to July 2010
- DRDO of PRO8 – August 2010 to October 2010
- Deputy regional director for admin PRO-8 – until December 26, 2012
- Director of training service based in Camp Crame – until retirement in July 2015
Loot is among the five retired and police officials tagged by Duterte in illegal drugs. —John Ted Cordero/ALG, GMA News
