Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 8) – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday vowed to go after former anti-drug operative turned government’s most wanted police officer Eduardo Acierto before his term ends on 2022.
Acierto, former deputy director for administration of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, got into trouble after alleging that Duterte ignored an intelligence report linking his ex-adviser Michael Yang to illegal drugs.
“So alam ko na p***** i**, hihiritan ito ni Acierto (Now, I f*****g know. He would strike at me) on a pretext of a drug charge,” he said.
He defended Yang’s credibility anew, saying he had his background checked by no less than Acierto and other intelligence service agencies as well.
“Yang si Michael Yang, tinignan ko ‘yung records ng ano ang dossier niya galing kay Acierto lahat. Nagtanong ako sa NICA (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency), nagtanong ako kay – muntik – nagtanong ako sa ISAFP (Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) nagtanong ako – meron bang lumalabas na pangalan? Wala,” he said.
[Translation: That Michael Yang, I looked into his dossier which all came from Acierto. I asked NICA. I asked – almost – I asked ISAFP, I asked – Was there a name that came out? None.]
In April, a Manila court ordered Acierto’s arrest, who has been hiding since late 2018, over a Department of Justice (DOJ) drug charge involving the two magnetic lifters intercepted at the Manila International Container Port. The DOJ claimed he helped facilitate the entry of the billions of pesos-worth of illegal drugs.
The Ombudsman in 2015 ordered the Acierto’s dismissal for being supposedly involved in an anomalous deal between the PNP and a courier company Werfast.
“Before my term ends, talagang hahabulin ko sila. (I will come after them) Tala – it’s treason,” Duterte said during an oath-taking ceremony of newly promoted Philippine National Police officers in Malacañang.
