Talitay mayor tagged by cop as drug lord speaks, denies
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 05:40 AM Sat Aug 6, 2016
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By:
Ferdinandh Cabrera
Talitay Mayor Montasir Sabal (FC)
COTABATO CITY – A town mayor in Maguindanao tagged by police authorities in Sultan
Kudarat province as drug lord today came out to deny police claim and
challenged authorities to show evidence against him.
Mayor Montasir
Sabal of Talitay, Maguindanao vehemently denied insinuations that he was a big
time drug lord.
I strongly
deny this report,” Sabal told GMANews.
Supt. Joefil
Siason, police chief of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat claimed that Sabal was included
in the search warrant issued by a local court that police have implemented on
Saturday, July 30, in Barangay Kalawag, Isulan.
Sixteen
persons were arrested and P1.3 million worth of shabu and paraphernalia were
seized, including an alleged blue book that contained the group’s clients.
Siason said
Sabal was in the bungalow that was subjected to police surveillance operations
but managed to escape along with its owners.
Police said
some of those arrested were relatives of Sabal which the mayor denied.
I was not
there during the police raid, I was only in that house once or twice last May
to attend a wedding of my wife’s relatives,” he said. Army Colonel Ricky Abu (33rd battalion
commander) was there because he was a relative of the couple who was wed,”
Sabal added.
I think it
was politically motivated,” Sabal said even as he challenged the police in
Sultan Kudarat to show convincing proof and not only raw information.”
They cannot
use raw or intelligence information to pin me down, I was once a policeman,” said
Sabal, who claimed he was a former police officer of Special Action Force
before becoming a mayor.
He admitted
that sometime in 2007 he was into illegal drugs but abandoned it when he joined
politics and won. He also vowed to do away with illegal drugs before the Holy
Quran and before officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Sabal was a former MILF leader known as Commander
Rambo 5.”
Sabal said he
is ready to face PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa and the Department of Interior and
Local Government for investigation.
But I am
taking my time, not now,” he said of his readiness to face investigation in
Camp Crame. I will wait what will happen to Mayor Rasul Sangki of Ampatuan
town who surrendered to police authorities.”
Sabal lamented
the police reports because it has affected my family and my children.”
(Ferdinandh Cabrera)