PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Wednesday said that dismissed Bacolod police chief Senior Supt. Francisco B. Ebreo “might not be” in the illegal drug trade, but revealed that he is a protector of a certain drug lord in the city. “Well, it seems to me that at the very least he’s a protector. He might not be into the trafficking business, but he was really into….” Mr. Duterte said in a chance interview with reporters at the Palace. “There was this si Cano (Bacolod City Councilor Ricardo ‘Cano’ Tan), a councilor who has been tagged by PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) almost a decade ago to be engaged in trafficking na na-ambush (who was ambushed)… There were about three ambushes before the incident. Pumunta sila sa ospital, silang dalawa ng deputy niya (Ebreo and his deputy went to the hospital). What’s the f*cking business of going to the hospital of an ambushed drug lord?” the President narrated. Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo, meanwhile, said Mr. Duterte met with Mr. Ebreo and other local officers of the Philippine National Police at the Palace last Tuesday evening. “PRRD gave the police officers a dressing down and castigated them for allowing the proliferation of illegal drugs to persist in Bacolod. The President particularly expressed his frustration as to why they had no knowledge about the presence of certain personalities in Bacolod who are involved in the illegal drug industry,” Mr. Panelo said. Mr. Ebreo and four other Bacolod police officers have been relieved from their posts and placed under investigation. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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