By Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — Malacañang on Thursday said that it will leave to investigators to probe a Bacolod City local official already on the drug watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday night told the media that Bacolod City Councilor Ricardo ‘Cano’ Tan was the drug lord being protected by sacked Bacolod Police chief Senior Supt. Francis Ebreo.
“The investigator will be doing that, not us,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing when asked if charges will be filed against Tan.
On Wednesday, Duterte tagged Ebreo as a “protector” of drug syndicates recalling a time when the relieved cop visited Tan in a hospital.
“And you know there was this — si Cano, a councilor who has been tagged by the PDEA almost a decade ago to be engaged in trafficking, na-ambush (was ambushed),” Duterte said.
Reports showed that the Tan and his wife Nita were ambushed by three assailants after coming from a resort in Talisay City.
Duterte wondered what business Ebreo had in visiting Tan in the hospital.
“What’s the f_ _ _ _ business you are going to the hospital of a — ambush ng drug lord, tapos nag-iwan pa sila ng dalawang security? (ambushed drug lord, then they even left two security members),” Duterte said.
“I mean I could understand if you would send a topnotch investigator of the police. I would understand that. Pero kung silang dalawa mismo (But if it’s the two of them) the first and the second highest police officials of the city. Nagtataka ako kung bakit ganun (I’m puzzled why that’s the case). Strange behavior,” he added.
Earlier, Panelo acknowledged that while the PNP has yet to determine drug personalities supposedly being protected by the five cops, the President had enough bases to fire them given his “tentacles of intelligence.”
“Siguro iba ang source of information ni Presidente. Eh Presidente ito, ang dami nitong tentacles of intelligence (Perhaps the President has a different source of information. The President has ‘tentacles of intelligence’),” Panelo said.
He said that the Palace will await the results of the investigation being conducted by the Philippine National Police.
