ILOILO City – “This is what I’ve been saying. The truth has finally come out.”
This was what Calinog, Iloilo’s Mayor Alex Centena said after President Rodrigo Duterte bared on March 14 a new list of government officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs.
Centena was not in the new list. In August 2016, he was included in the first list that the President bared.
The Calinog mayor welcomed his non-inclusion in the latest narco-list.
“I’m not a drug protector, never was and never will be. Konsensyahan gid ako kon matuod nga gaintra ako ukon nagaprotektar,” Centena told Panay News.
Centena then thank the people of Calinog for continually supporting him.
He also said all the municipal police chiefs assigned to Calinog since 1998 when he became the mayor could attest to the support the local government gave them in the campaign against illegal drugs.
Now wrapping up his third consecutive term as mayor, Centena is running for vice mayor in the upcoming May 13 midterm elections. He said the latest narco-list announcement of the President had given him and his family peace of mind.
Centena then warned critics who continue to link him to illegal drugs. He may sue them, he said.
He vowed to continue his local government’s support to the President’s campaign against illegal drugs.
In an interview in August 2016 right after the President named him in the narco-list, Centena said he was willing to let go of the Calinog mayorship if it could be proven that he was a drug protector and user.
“Mapa-drug test kami sa mga naga-isyu sa akon. Ma-resign ako kon mapamatud-an nga nagagamit ako (drugs). Bisan bwas [dayon],” he said.
The accusation hurt him, said Centena. “Sin-o gin baligya-an ko drugs sa banwa ko? Masakit ni nga lahug sa kabuhi ko.”/PN
