Loot Confident His Name will be Cleared

Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot on Thursday said he is confident that he will be able to clear his name and prove that he never protected drug personalities.

In a speech last Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte named Loot, retired PNP general Marcelo Garbo Jr., Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao, Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio, and Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz as “drug protectors.”

Loot, who visited the office of Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III at the Cebu Capitol on Thursday, said he had served the Filipinos for 37 years as a military officer and police officer.

“I felt sad that these false and malicious allegations happened. But I am confident the truth will come out,” Loot said.

Loot was a chief superintendent of the Philippine National Police (PNP), a rank equivalent to a brigadier general in the Armed Forces, when he retired in July last year.

Loot said he has been a victim of political black propaganda since his wife joined politics in the 1990s, and when he ran and won as mayor of his town last May 9.

He said that even the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), through a certain Attorney Allan Contado, conducted a lifestyle check on him and his family and filed charges for having ill-gotten wealth before the Office of the Ombudsman.

However, the case the NBI filed against him was dismissed by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales in a resolution dated Feb. 6, 2015, Loot said, because the NBI failed to substantiate the allegation.

Loot said their family assets amount to about Php 100 million, and these were acquired long before he became a general.

He said everything has been disclosed in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), a copy of which is with the Office of the Ombudsman. (PNA) RMA/EB/EDS