‘Hello, Macky’ for LP in Zambo Norte?

Gualberto Laput

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

An audio clip reveals a man, who sounds like police Superintendent Reynaldo Maclang, talking openly about working for gubernatorial bet Roberto Uy

PARTISAN? Supt Reynaldo Maclang, Police Public Safety Company commander in Zamboanga del Norte, is reported caught in a recording expressing support for gubernatorial candidate Roberto Uy. Photo by Gualberto Laput

DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – Just three weeks ago, the police regional director for the Zamboanga Peninsula reminded officers under his command against being used by politicians for the May 13 elections.

Lately, however, a recorded mobile phone conversation has been uploaded on Youtube, insinuating that the commander of the Police Public Safety Company (PPSC) in Zamboanga del Norte is not heeding this order.

In the voice clip, two men, who sounded like Superintendent Reynaldo Maclang of the PSSC and Renante Alga Serreño, a candidate for councilor in Gutalac town under Liberal Party (LP), are talking.

The conversation indicates that that Maclang has been working for the candidacy of Roberto Uy, LP’s gubernatorial bet against 3rd district congressman Cesar Jalosjos of the Nacionalista Party.

Maclang’s lawyer, Kenneth Rosal, denied that it’s his client’s voice in the recording. “I talked with Macky (Maclang), and he flatly denied it was his voice,” Rosal told Rappler on Wednesday, May 1.

Just before the campaign period started, Serreño was rumored to have shifted loyalties, from Uy to Jalosjos. In the recorded conversation, uploaded on April 23, the man who’s supposed to be Maclang is heard chastising Serreño.

‘Smear campaign’

Here is how the conversation goes:

Maclang: O kumusta? Anong balita? Mukhang hindi ka raw tumutupad sa usapan. Nag-usap na ba kayo ni Berto Uy? (How are things going? What’s up? I heard you’re not keeping your word. Have you talked to Berto Uy?)

Serreño: Wala pa, sir, pero baka makapunta ako. Kinausap ko na si Mayor [Junior] Kuma (LP mayoral candidate in Gutalac). (Nothing new, sir, but I might be able to go. I already talked to Mayor Kuma.)

Maclang: “Ah, dili…si Governor may atoa. Siya naman ang inaano ko, di naman si mayor. (Ah, no…we are working for the candidacy of Governor. I’m for him, not the mayor.)

And as their conversation goes on, Maclang is heard saying, “Si Berto makakatulong sa ’yo, pag sinabi niyang huwag mong hulihin yan.” (Berto can be of help to you. He can stop [the police] from arresting whoever he wants to protect.)

Listen to the conversation here:

Rosal insisted, however, that the recorded conversation is “an unverified matter from an unverified source, which is difficult to authenticate. It is a mere fabrication considering strong attempts from the camp of Jalosjos and Governor Rolando Yebes to oust Maclang.”

Rosal added said the recorded conversation “is obviously part of the smear campaign against Maclang.”

Maclang has been suspected to be behind the series of unsolved killings in Dipolog City and the strafing of houses and offices of lawyers and journalists identified as sympathetic to the Jalosjos-Yebes group.

The police official has vehemently denied the accusations.

Reports coming from Gutalac said that Serraño has been in hiding after his house was strafed by unidentified men at dawn last Sunday, April 28. – Rappler.com

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