MANILA, Philippines – Finally it unravelled yesterday. Members of the House admitted that they feared their politicals rivals were using police operations to get back at them.

This was the sentiment shared among lawmakers in the August 31 budget briefing of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) which oversees the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Lanao del Norte 2nd District Representative Abdullah “Bobby” Dimaporo gave himself as an example, reading aloud a July 2017 police report he obtained.

The report said that “Mayor Motalib Dimaporo” and “Bobby Dimaporo” ran a shabu laboratory.

He immediately denied it, saying Motalib Dimaporo, his cousin, was elected as Vice Mayor of Sultan Naga Dimaporo town in Lanao del Norte province in 2016. He then read the report that was prepared by the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG).

After reading the report, Dimaporo asked PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa: who heads the agency. Dela Rosa said “si Mijares (it’s Mijares)”.

“It is General Mijares, a close friend of our political enemy,” was Dimaporo’s quick comment.

He said he worries for himself and local officials who do not have links with police, given that cops themselves prepare Duterte’s drug list. He said he worries for the credibility of the drug war list, especially if more high-ranking cops are allied with politicians, given that the President gets it from the PNP. 

“This is why this is leading to putting us in jail,” Dimaporo said. 

While Dimaporo was not included in Duterte’s drug list released earlier, he said the police report he read was enough proof that he is under threat as the infamous roster  has since been updated, although not been made public. 

Three mayors tagged as drug-related by the PNP have since been killed in police operations, all in doubt-cast circumstances. (READ: City mayors ‘surprised and saddened’ by Mayor Parojinog’s death)

Antipolo 2nd District Representative Romeo Acop, himself a former Chief Superintendent of the PNP, said he was “receiving the same information.”

Dela Rosa also admitted that he heard the same information too, but these were not yet validated.

With this, Acop asked the PNP’s commitment in validating, and making sure that no innocent politician will be falsely accused, more so, operated on.

“Kindly see to it that the novel operations will not be used for other purposes,” Acop told Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa promptly agreed. – Rappler.com