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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, October 9, 2017
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ILOILO – Three municipal mayors that President Rodrigo Duterte tagged as drug protectors last year may join his Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
According to Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., the party’s secretary general House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez told him PDP-Laban was open to mayors Alex Centena of Calinog, Mariano Malones of Maasin and Sigfredo Betita of Carles.
Even Maasin vice mayor Francis Amboy whom Duterte also named and shamed with the mayors in August 2016 may also join PDP-Laban, the governor added.
Defensor is set to formally take oath as PDP-Laban member next month.
Centena welcomed the development but would like to be formally cleared first of the allegation he was a drug coddler.
Defensor told him he had been cleared, said Centena, but a written clearance from Alvarez or the Department of Interior and Local Government would be better.
The governor invited Centena to take oath with him as PDP-Laban member this Nov. 23.
Right after the President named him a drug protector last year, Centena declared he was willing to let go of the Calinog mayorship if the charge could be proven true.
“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, who is now in his third and final term. “Sin-o gin baligya-an ko drugs sa banwa ko? Masakit ‘ni nga lahug sa kabuhi ko.”
One of the proofs he presented to the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group was his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth showing no hidden or unexplained wealth.
The sources of his income were legitimate businesses and not illegal drugs, said Centena who owned a farm.
February this year, Centena announced he was not anymore in President Duterte’s list of government officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs. He personally verified it with Chief Superintendent Jose Gentiles, the then regional police director, in Camp Delgado, he said.
“Gentiles told me, ‘Congratulations for your record, and thank you for your support in the fight against illegal drugs,’” Centena told Panay News.
The mayor said he was happy.
“Daw nakuhaan ako sang tunok,” Centena said. “Ano bala nga gub-on ngalan mo [sang butang] nga waay mo man nahimo.”
While Centena did not actually see the list, the mayor said Gentiles confirmed that his name was not in it.
The two other municipal mayors, Malones and Betita, could not be reached for comment as of this writing about their possible PDP-Laban membership. But both had time and again denied being drug coddlers.
“Dako gid ini nga pag-damage sa ngalan naton,” Malones said in a previous interview. “Unexpected ini…nagkabuhi kita sang insakto, nagatinguha sa pag-umwad sang aton kabuhi, kag karon na-involve kita sa ilegal nga droga. Daw waay ko gid [ini] gina-ekspektar sa bilog ko nga kabuhi.”
Maasin vice mayor Francis Amboy said he, too, was stunned by Duterte’s naming him as a drug coddler.
“Natingala kita. Na-shock kita. Pero kampante ako kay kon nagatindog kita sa kamatuoran, siguro kamatuoan man gihapon manindugan asta sa katapusan,” said Amboy in previous interview.
He admitted once having a business transaction with a son of slain businessman Melvin Odicta Sr., a suspected drug lord of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Amboy said Odicta’s son bought his restaurant at Smallville, a business and entertainment complex in Iloilo City.
“Indi man guro malain mangamigo sa ila,” said the vice mayor. “Wala ko kabalo sang ila personal nga negosyo. Ang akon linkage didto lang sa restaurant nga’to.”
Odicta Sr. was shot to death by unidentified gunmen at the jetty port in Barangay Caticlan, Malay, Aklan on Aug. 29, 2016 some three weeks after Duterte tagged Centena, Malones, Betita, and Amboy, among others, as drug protectors./PN
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