Duterte demands an action to ‘tanim-bala’ scam

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Duterte, who still denies that he will run for president, said Aquino should make a move to stop the racket rather than dismiss the matter as only a few incidents.

Being irked by President Aquino’s statement downplaying the “tanim-bala” scam at the airports, Duterte said at a gun show attended by top police and retired military officials, “Mr. President I demand (action). Do not give me statistics that it’s only point zero-zero which means it’s only one case in many. That is not a f*cking answer.

He also addressed his remarks to Sen. Alan Cayetano, who was also guest at the TV show, saying that the “price of being President means taking the law in one’s hands to eliminate drug syndicates.

Cayetano, who runs for vice presidency, courts Détente to be his running mate in the upcoming elections. Although Duterte  said he was behind Cayetano’s back, the mayor said they did not mean they have formed a tandem.

During his appearance at the 23rd Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines’ Defense and Sporting Arms Show in SM Megamall on Wednesday, Duterte spoke his mind on variety of topics from ending the drug scourge, to cracking a joke of being the next President falling down the stairs so that Cayetano can assume the post.

Duterte said that the tanim-bala scam had been going for years since he was a city prosecutor for 10 years and been victimizing Japanese nationals.

What made him mad this time was victimizing elderly overseas Filipino workers who were apprehended at the airport because of bullets found in their luggages.

Duterte said that if the OFWs have been found a bullet planted in their luggages, they could have been caught by the airport personnel and could have been jailed abroad.

He also said that his call of action from the President was a “demand” and reminded the president that he has not asked for anything in exchange for his support in the 2010 election.

The Davao City mayor insisted that he did not changed his mind about running for presidency, and said the substitution of presidential candidate of PDP-Laban Party was just a “press release” since he has not talked to any party officials.