FORMER Senator and presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Tuesday he took a cocaine test the day before, and had submitted the results to three government law enforcement agencies.
In a news statement sent to media offices, the presidential aspirant of Partido Federal said, “I really don’t feel that I am the one being alluded to,” apparently referring to President Duterte’s revelation that a presidential aspirant, whom he did not name, was a cocaine addict.
“In spite of that, I believe it is my inherent duty as an aspiring public official to assure my fellow Filipinos that I am against illegal drugs,” Marcos said.
No confirmation from PNP
The Philippine National Police, however, has not confirmed whether it has already received the reported results of drug tests Marcos Jr. as claimed by the latter.
Marcos Jr. took the drug tests on Monday apparently in response to President Duterte’s earlier claims that a presidential candidate from a wealthy family is using the illegal drug cocaine and warned Filipinos voters from voting him into office.
The PNP has so far remained silent on Marcos Jr.’s drug tests and its results, although it earlier said that it was supporting calls for candidates to subject themselves to illegal drugs screening.
It also said there is no order for it to compel candidates for a mandatory drug tests.
Anti-drug campaigner
Though Marcos Jr. was not named by the President, some social media memes made thinly veiled references to him.
On Tuesday, Marcos said his strong stance against illegal drugs prompted him to take the “cocaine test yesterday and the result was submitted this morning to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency [PDEA], the office of the Chief of the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation.”
He assured Filipinos, especially supporters of the BBM-Sara Uniteam, “that I am, and will remain, a vigilant anti-illegal drugs campaigner!”
He repeated a call that he said he had sounded during the 2016 election campaign, for “all elective aspirants to take the drug test to ensure our people, particularly the young generation, that no elected leader is into illegal substances.”
Marcos Jr’s revelation about taking a drug test followed Monday’s move by the Partido Reporma tandem, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III, to take a multi-drug test conducted by PDEA, where they tested negative for shabu, marijuana and cocaine use.
Lacson also called out President Duterte for dishing out blind items against presidential aspirants without doing anything to stop them, when he had projected himself as a tough leader willing to take flak for a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.With Rene Acosta
Image courtesy of Roy Domingo/BM