Former Cebu City mayor denies he is a drug coddler, ready to face probe

Former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama was among the drug coddlers named by President Rodrigo Duterte. (Facebook photo)

CEBU CITY – Former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama on Sunday denied he is a drug addict, a drug pusher or a drug coddler.

Rama, who lost to Mayor Tomas Osmena in the May 9 elections, was among the drug coddlers named by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his early Sunday dawn speech.

“I’m very much saddened about what the president uttered. In my own view, it’s very much untrue. I am not a drug addict. The more I can’t be a pusher, worse a drug protector,” he said in a press conference at the Rama Compound in Cebu City Sunday morning.

“Who I am to protect a drug lord? I don’t even have much control of the chief of police and the regional director when I was mayor,” he said.

Rama, who served as Cebu City mayor from 2010 to 2016, said he will present himself for investigation to prove that he’s never a drug coddler.

“I’m very much eager to undergo an investigation to clear air of doubts and so that justice and truth will prevail,” he said.

Rama said he was sound asleep when his family and friends knocked on the door of his room Sunday dawn to inform him that he was among those named as drug coddler by Duterte.

Rama said he was hurt by the accusations, but he said he will continue to support President Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.