Update: Duterte admits ordering Marcos reinstatement
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/02/16/duterte-admits-ordering-marcos-reinstatement
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
IF Police Supt. Marvin Marcos has long been identified as a protector of drug lords, why is somebody high up in Malacañang protecting him?
What does this make of President Duterte’s bloody campaign to eliminate illegal drugs in the country which has claimed the lives of some 3,000 and still counting?
Marcos has been under protective custody at the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame in Metro Manila together with his team involved in the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr in the wee hours of Nov 5 while imprisoned in Baybay Provincial Jail in Leyte.
Until his involvement in the Espinosa killing, Marcos was chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa revealed Tuesday that “someone higher” asked him to reinstate Marcos to his position in CIDG Region 8.
It sent everybody guessing because higher than the PNP chief would be a cabinet member. PNP is under the Department of Interior and Local Government. Was it DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno, many asked?
Yesterday morning, De la Rosa gave more hints who was the “ninong” of Marco: “Kumpare andun sa Malacañang. Hindi nag-utos, nakiusap na pagbigyan,” he said.
De la Rosa quoted his kumpare as saying, ‘’’Pre yung grupo ni Marcos napapatulong na kawawa iyong pamilya nila kung maiwan doon, matanggal sila doon at mapunta dito sa Crame so baka pwede mong mareconsider yung decision mo na tanggalin sila doon.”
He said he immediately acceded saying, “Sabi ko ‘yes’ walang problema, for humanitarian purposes, I’m willing to do it.”
Sen. Leila de Lima said her sources at PNP told her it was Christopher “Bong” Go, special assistant to the President who called up Dela Rosa to reinstate Marcos.
“It’s an open secret na in-order niya (Go) si General Bato by phone call na i-reinstate [si Marcos].” De Lima said adding that some PNP officials are dismayed with Marcos re-instatement.
In a statement, Go called De Lima’s information “pure hearsay and unsubstantiated.”
“I did not ask General Bato to reinstate him (Marcos),” Go said adding that he does not recall having met the controversial police officer.
I also do not interfere with the affairs and functions of the PNP,” Go further said.
Go is one, if not the most, trusted persons of President Duterte. He was Duterte’s chief of staff when he was Davao mayor.
In Malacañang, he acts as the President’s chief cordon sanitaire, screening all the president’s appointments as well as documents for the chief executive’s signature. He is head of the Presidential Management Staff and holds a cabinet rank.
The question is, if what De Lima said was true, did Go do it on his own? Or did he do it upon instruction of the President?
It will be recalled that while everybody found preposterous the version of Marcos and his team that they killed Espinosa because he shot at them, Duterte stood by them. “I believe in the version of the police. If they have a version that proves otherwise, then a case should be filed against the police.”
He reiterated his assurance that “The police have nothing to be afraid of. They’ve got my protection. I will support them.
During the Senate hearing two weeks ago, self-confessed illegal drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, son of the slain mayor, said Marcos demanded and got from him a total of P3 million during the election campaign early this year to finance the candidacy of his wife for vice mayor in the town of Pastrana in Leyte.
In exchange for the money, the younger Espinosa said Marcos informed him on the location and time of the checkpoints so that they would not run into them.
The latest revelation of Marcos’ connection to Malacañang raises an alarming angle to the observation of Sen. Panfilo Lacson Espinosa during the Senate investigation on the killing of Mayor Espinosa.
“I was watching the demeanor of Supt. Marcos, Chief Inspector (Leo) Laraga and the two others … and I could see from their demeanor, masyadong confident,” said Lacson who was formerly PNP chief.
“Parang they were already anticipating that the President would back them up. And that’s a bad sign,” Considering the blatant execution tapos ganun yung actuation – it’s bothersome,” Lacson further said.
A police protector of drug lords has a protector in Malacanang? That’s frightening.
