Duterte trains guns on Acierto anew

MANILA, Philippines — An irate President Duterte again renewed his attack on dismissed police colonel Eduardo Acierto, who accused former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang of involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Speaking at a political rally in Koronadal City last Tuesday evening, Duterte confirmed Acierto’s claim that he submitted a report on the background of Yang.

But Duterte said he did not give weight to the report because of the former police official’s unsavory background. 

Duterte added that he has known Yang since 1999 as a trader in his home province of Davao.

“Ito sabihin ko sa iyo kung sino ‘yan si Acierto. Kasi sabi niya I ignored his information about a certain Yang, ‘yung may-ari ng DCLA dito sa Davao,” he said, comparing the backgrounds of accused and accuser.

Apart from Acierto, the President also implicated former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) deputy chief Ismael Fajardo and one Jimmy Guban in alleged illegal activities.

Acierto, a former official of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force, recently showed mediamen photographs of Duterte with Yang and Allan Lim, who are allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

He said he sent a report to the President to warn him about the two Chinese.

He told a news conference late Sunday that he’s unaware what government action has been taken after he submitted his report about the Chinese men to top police officials in December 2017.

Instead, Acierto said he’s now facing illegal drugs complaints and has been the target of threats that forced him to go into hiding recently.

Acierto had sought the help of the Catholic Church after he claimed that there is a P15-million bounty on his head.

Duterte had previously denied appointing Yang as one of his economic advisers.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said Yang’s appointment expired last Dec. 31.

Acierto claimed he has been unfairly included in the drug watch list after he revealed Yang’s alleged illicit dealings.

Duterte had exposed Acierto last year, tagging him in an alleged drug matrix. 

PDEA director general Aaron Aquino says he received Acierto’s report and the allegations against the Chinese are being validated.

The PDEA had claimed that Acierto was part of the group that facilitated the smuggling of P6.8 billion worth of shabu hidden inside magnetic lifters that slipped past the Bureau of Customs and ended up in a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite.

Aquino had earlier implicated Acierto, relieved PDEA deputy director general for administration Fajardo and Custom’s intelligence officer Guban in the drug shipment.

The President also tagged Acierto and Fajardo in the kidnap-slay of South Korean executive Jee Ick-joo of Hanjin who was reportedly a victim of a police shakedown.    

He was eventually tortured and killed inside the Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City in 2017 that raised public outcry and condemnation from the Korean government.

It was in the two events in Koronadal where Duterte asked why the dismissed cops remain alive up to now. 

Duterte, however, made no mention of the P15-million bounty on the head of Acierto, who has expressed fear for his life.

“Tanungin ko kayong mga sundalo at pulis, bakit buhay pa ‘yang mga ‘yan? Ayaw ninyong patayin? Eh di sabihin ninyo,” the President asked.

The STAR tried to reach Acierto for comment on the President’s remarks but he could not be reached through his previously known contact number.

No less than the President vouched for Yang’s integrity, noting that the Davao-based trader had been part of the party of the Chinese vice premier during a visit in Manila in 2017.

“Will the Chinese allow him (Yang) with this kind of setup? They are even recording what I am saying right now through their satellite,” he said.

Duterte was apparently saying that the top Chinese officials, including Vice-Premier Wang and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua, would not associate themselves or their offices with shady characters.

When he was Davao City mayor, Duterte said he was very strict in his warning against individuals involved in drugs.

“You can come here, do legal business but don’t do drugs, I will bury you alive… Alam mo Acierto, Fajardo, at lahat kayong lahat mga kurakot na mga pulis p***** i** ninyo bantay kayo sa akin (all you scalawag police better watch out),” he said.

“Tignan mo. Kung hindi niyo ako maunahan, animal kayo, uubusin ko talaga kayo (if you don’t get me first, I’ll get you),” he said.

Duterte also accused Acierto and Fajardo of threatening some Chinese that they will be held on drug charges if they would fail to produce money in exchange for their freedom.

According to Duterte, Acierto was dismissed from the PNP effective Aug. 14, 2016 due to procurement of AK-47 rifles, which eventually landed in the hands of the New People’s Army.

He also said that Acierto is known to be involved in extortion activities victimizing Chinese nationals. 

The PDEA clarified that Acierto’s information on Yang is wrong.

Nevertheless, the anti-narcotics agency is willing to look into the accusations again even though there is no evidence to support such allegations.

PDEA spokesman Derrick Arnold Carreon said the operation plan of the 2004 raid on a shabu laboratory in Davao City did not have a Michael Yang on it. 

Carreon told reporters that there is no one named Michael Yang, which means that Acierto’s information was wrong regarding the raid at the shabu laboratory in Davao.

Carreon said if Acierto had something then, the former police official should have arrested and charged the person he had identified as Yang.

He said the PDEA reviewed the operation plan on the Davao raid but Yang’s name never came out and there is no evidence linking Yang to the illegal drug trade.

Asked if PDEA is willing to still conduct an investigation, Carreon said it will definitely do so but “it’s not to say that we did not do any investigation.”

He explained that when Aquino received Acierto’s accusations last year, he informed Malacañang and had field units do backtracking to probe the allegations.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said Acierto’s allegations should still be investigated even if he thinks the claims were not credible. – With Michael Punongbayan, Paolo Romero, Emmanuel Tupas, Cecille Suerte Felipe