MALACAÑANG on Saturday maintained that President Rodrigo Duterte has his own sources of information after the Metro Manila’s chief of police said they had no reports of any kidnapping incidents in the metropolis as claimed by Duterte.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella made the claim to defend Duterte who had earlier claimed that were six kidnapping cases in the Chinese community in Binondo, Manila.
“We don’t know if there [are really kidnappings in Binondo] but he has his own sources,” Abella said on state radio dzRB when asked about the Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde’s denial that there was an increase in kidnapping cases in the metropolis.
“We will verify the information coming from the President,” Albayalde had said.
However, “as of this time, we really haven’t received any report from any sector that there really is kidnapping especially in Manila,” he added.
But Abella insisted “if there are really no [kidnapping activities that happened in Binondo], I’m sure the President has his own form of information. That’s all I can say.”
Albayalde said the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group had also yet to record a kidnapping incident since Duterte assumed the presidency.
“With a constant communication with the Chinese community, we haven’t received any complaints from them,” Albayalde said.
In a speech delivered Friday before members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Duterte claimed that drug traffickers have shifted to kidnap-for-ransom activities, following the government’s crackdown on the narcotics trade.
“There’s a very low supply of drugs now. But these fools shifted to kidnapping. That’s the new game. In three weeks, there were about six kidnappings in Binondo. Be careful,” the President said. “This is an entirely new game.”
