What if Duterte is into drugs?

Jude Josue Sabio

WHAT if it is Duterte who is the drug lord? What if the slain Mayor Espinosa knew Duterte as the top drug lord but was forced to admit de Lima to be the drug lord? What if Mayor Espinosa was killed because he would squeal on Duterte, and retract his statement against Sen. Leila de Lima?  What if Duterte’s “I hate drugs” is downright false, a hypocrisy, cover up?

In the Senate, Edgar Matobato alleged that Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte is a drug user and is a friend to big Chinese drug lords.  He also testified that no big-time drug lords or personalities were ever harmed or killed in Davao. In one of her remarks on media, Sen. de Lima was quoted as asking why Duterte has to pivot to China when most of the drugs in the country come from China.

From his public pronouncements, Duterte hates shabu. His brutal war on drugs is centered on shabu which is known as the poor man’s cocaine. He was quoted in media as saying that a drug addict dependent on shabu has a shrunk brain and is like a zombie and not a human being and therefore not entitled to human rights.

Duterte hates de Lima whom he tagged as the protector of the  shabu proliferation in the National Bilibid.  He caused her to be investigated in the House of Representatives, on the basis of which drug offenses were charged against her with the DOJ. Earlier, Duterte was quoted in media as saying that de Lima will lose in her fight against him and that she is “finished.”

Among pundits, it is asserted that the House inquiry was launched to stifle opposition from Sen. de Lima who was launching an inquiry into the extra-judicial killings in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. In retrospect, Duterte was seething with vengeance against de Lima for her previous inquiry into the Davao Death Squad when she was CHR chairman. This enmity persisted when she was elected senator and continued her open criticism of Duterte’s alleged violation of human rights.

In the drug war recently, two alleged high-profile drug lords–Mayor Dimaukom of Maguindanao and Mayor Espina of Leyte–were killed.  From the looks of it, these twin killings were projected to showcase Duterte’s strategy in the Oplan Double Barrel that not only drug pushers but also high-profile drug lords would be neutralized in the war against drugs.

But is Duterte’s public pronouncement that “I hate drugs” really true?  Does he appear to be what he really is based on his words? Or is his statement just for a cover-up? Or is there something cleverly hidden behind those words that makes him not really what he professes to be in public?  To be blunt about it, is there something that shows him to be a drug personality himself?

These are terrifying questions that, if answered in the positive, would turn upside down how Duterte is popularly viewed as a man who hates drugs and wages war to protect his people from the scourge of drugs. It is like asking the question of whether Mary Magdalene is really Jesus’ wife, which if answered in the positive, would turn 2,000 years old of Christianity on its head.

If it is true that Duterte’s son Paolo Duterte a.k.a. Polong is a drug user, then it is hypocrisy for Duterte to say that he will even kill his son if he is an addict. In the Senate inquiry, Matobato alleged that one time, he was tasked to bring P2 million to the Customs in Davao allegedly as grease money for the smuggling operations of Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.  In the Senate inquiry on rice smuggling in Davao, Duterte said in the Senate that he would kill David Bangayan a.k.a. David Tan, the alleged rice smuggler, if he would set foot in Davao. But based on reports, it is his son Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte who is allegedly the mastermind of the smuggling of rice and oil in Davao, as also testified by Matobato in the Senate inquiry. This alone suggests that Duterte is not what he appears to be.

The House inquiry on the proliferation of drugs shows that Duterte does not appear to be what he professes to be. He had immediate control, mastery and complete trust and confidence in the convicted Bilibid drug lords. The convicted felons fully embraced and supported Duterte as if they had long been old friends before.

Did Duterte hate what de Lima did to his friend-convicts when she forced 19 of them to be transferred to the NBI and thus was able to break their syndicate inside the NBP? Is Duterte taking up revenge against de Lima for an old wound that she inflicted on his dear friends in the drug trade inside the Bilibid?

There are Chinese individuals in this group of convicts. Is this the reason that Duterte is taking a pivot towards China, even if the bulk of drugs that enters the country comes from China? Perhaps, we should start to be wary about Chinese ships entering our shores as they might transport more and more of the high grade drugs like cocaine into the country.

It is indeed scary to think that maybe Duterte is not what he appears to be.  Behind the façade of his strong and violent hatred against the drug menace may lie something sinister or evil about Duterte. One may just look at how he easily blurts out names from his drug list as if he knows them from Adam.

Why does he know them that well? Is it because he is very familiar with the trade and the personalities behind it?  Why does he pursue and neutralize some among many? Is it because he wants only people who are friends to him to continue with the trade? Or does he hate shabu but plays favorite with other drugs in the market?

In these dangerous times, when we have a popular president whose popularity stems terrifyingly from the wrong reasons, these questions are extremely difficult to be answered in the positive.  Apart from the fact that people still blindly adore Duterte, some people who may know things about Duterte’s possible drug links would expectedly be afraid to surface because of Duterte’s famous words “I will kill you.”

(Jude Josue Sabio is a lawyer who hails from Misamis Oriental. He is lawyering for Edgar Matobato.)