Malacañang on Thursday shrugged off the challenge of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to President Rodrigo Duterte and his family to undergo drug testing, after the lawmaker tested negative for illegal drug use.
“The President was elected by the people. If he wants to undergo drug testing, he will do it, but not because someone commanded him to do so,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
Meanwhile, Roque said the President has access to information pointing to Naga City, the home of Vice President Leni Robredo, as a “hotbed of shabu.”
“I’m sure he has access to information indicating certain areas to be hotbeds of shabu. And he must have seen in the report that Naga is one of them,” the Palace spokesman added.
“I don’t think it’s something that the President would say from thin air because he has access to all information that even you and I don’t have access to,” he said.
The President made the remark tagging Naga last Tuesday, as he discussed a possible constitutional succession following his stated desire to step down from office, with Robredo next in line—but not Duterte’s preferred successor.
Asked whether the President had political intentions behind his pronouncement on Naga, Roque said there was none.
“I think the President won’t put shabu with politics. The whole country experiences a problem with shabu. Maybe he was just indicating there is more problematic [issues] in that place like Naga,” said Roque.
The spokesman said Duterte believes that areas that are lagging behind in economic development have the tendency to grow its market of illegal drugs.
Roque also bared that Malacañang intentionally ignores statements from Trillanes, reiterating that Duterte will not take orders from anyone.
“I don’t know what the response should be to Senator Trillanes, as he has already said many things that I and the Palace ignore,” he added.
On Thursday, Trillanes posted on his Twitter account his drug test result. The result showed that he was found negative on cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, morphine, and tetrahydrocannabinol.
He asked: “When will the Dutertes undergo a drug test?”
Department of the Interior and Local Government Office Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año echoed Duterte’s claim, adding there are persistent reports of drug trafficking and operation in Naga and Cebu City as well.
“We are actually directing our effort and focus to conduct anti-drug operations in Region V. And this shall be, of course, through the enforcement cluster wherein we have this task force to conduct this operation,” said Año in a briefing Wednesday, as government integrated its program against illegal drugs.
The Local Governments chief also emphasized that Duterte has his own sources.
“He shares these sources to law enforcement groups. The statement he said, there is a basis for that,” reiterated Año.
During the surprise random drug testing of employees at the Senate last July, the senator stressed the need for the Chief Executive and his family to voluntarily submit themselves to drug testing.
“It’s in the interest of our countrymen to know that their public servants are not drug users or under the influence of illegal drugs,” Trillanes said.
“I call on the Office of the President to go first. Duterte should be the first one so that the public can be assured that the leader of the war on drugs is not under the influence of illegal drugs,” he added.
The senator had accused Duterte’s son, former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, and son-in-law Manases Carpio of being linked to the controversial P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past Customs in May last year.
Carpio, the husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, has denied the allegation.