Gov. Edgar Chatto on Friday challenged Carmen Mayor Conchita De los Reyes to a drug test to prove once and for all who of them may have been into illegal drug activities, indulging in prohibited substances or addiction. This puts the fiery lady gubernatorial contender in the receiving end of her own propaganda blitz wildly and seriously accusing the governor, his “development team” and the Bohol police command as dangerous drug traffickers and protectors. The governor and standard bearer of the Liberal Party (LP) encouraged the Bohol Tri-Media Association (BTMA) and Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) to facilitate and witness the drug testing.

In a press release published in a local tabloid, De los Reyes accused Chatto and his capitol development team of allegedly being “into illegal drug trade” to generate fund and counter her self-claimed money prowess to win the election. Candid in his belief that an illegal drug peddler must be a drug user altogether, the governor dared by way of “inviting” her combatant opponent to a drug test at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital or any accredited laboratory. This is also to erase the people’s doubt amidst deceits and lies, Chatto hinted. During his live weekly Kita ug Ang Governor forum with the media, the top provincial official issued the challenge in the course of his response to a query seeking his comment on De los Reyes’ allegations. Chatto said he was not surprised, only that he “could not imagine” how the woman candidate seeking the sacred votes of the people “could be so daring and bold in lying” to the Boholano electorate. He could not even believe that someone among the over a million Boholanos, including the non-electors, today could fabricate a falsehood of such gravity affecting the present Bohol leadership, which values peace and order as potent to development and human survival.

The governor would have himself---and De los Reyes---tested for drugs by their urine, blood and hair samples. Chatto, who does not even drink and smoke, said he was told that chemical evidence of the use of illegal drugs stays longer in hair than blood and urine. He preferred that they would be both drug-tested at the Gallares hospital at near noon on Monday since he has yet to lead the weekly capitol convocation in the morning. Each Monday is also his People’s Day, but the governor would find time for the first-ever drug test in his life. If De los Reyes accepts the challenge, it will be the first time in Bohol history that two gubernatorial candidates submit themselves to a laboratory examination to determine who of them may be drug user.

ONCE A LIAR, ADDICT TO LIES?

De los Reyes and her Bag-ong Bol-anon camp suddenly spread dirt using the drug gimmick against their opponents after the latest Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) report indicated the Carmen mayor to be “covering up” for the drug prevalence in her town. In its report to the Provincial Peace and Order Council, the PDEA-Bohol Unit listed Carmen among the Bohol towns which are notorious for illegal drugs. But in their debate with Chatto days earlier, De los Reyes boasted aloud of her town having no illegal drug problem because it has “zero” crime. Based on the Bag-ong Bol-anon newsfeed to the local tabloid after the PDEA report, De los Reyes admitted the illegal drug activities in her area, but she instead blamed the problem to the governor and his fellow provincial officials. She used as an “alibi” the pull-out of some of her policemen and armed “task force,” who she said could have stopped the dangerous drug trade in Carmen. As she lost her task force, illegal drugs have thus flourished, according to the Carmen mayor in her political press release.

In her imaginary “web of conspiracy” to suit her desired end of destroying Chatto, De los Reyes blamed the cops’ pull-out to “PNP Provincial Director Constantino Barot, Jr. (who is) under the Provincial Peace and Order Council headed by the governor.” This further saddened the governor because De los Reyes also dragged the PPOC which has a respectable multi-agency, multi-sectoral composition. Carmen residents themselves complained to both military and police authorities against the task force, who included soldiers acting like “private army.” They reported the flourishing illegal drug peddling despite the presence of her purportedly anti-drug fighting team. By her sweeping false accusation against Chatto and his fellow Bohol leaders, De los Reyes was in effect also trying to dishonor Vice Gov. Concepcion Lim, the members of the provincial board, First District Rep. Rene Relampagos, mayors’ league president and Trinidad Mayor Roberto Cajes who is staging a congressional comeback in the Second District, and even Third District Rep. Arthur Yap who is known to be a capitol diligent development ally even if he is not officially with the ruling party, according to their supporters.

Neither he nor any member of the family has ever been known to have indulged in the drug vice or undergone rehabilitation for probihited drug use, the governor declared. Chairing both the regional and provincial peace and order councils, Chatto said his “only involvement” in the illegal drugs is his campaign against “the social ill that has already wasted so many futures and lives of our dear children.” “Magpa-drug test ta aron klaro ang atong moral authority,” the governor reiterated his challenge to De los Reyes. The leader should be the model to his/her people, what with the very mandate for the loftiest position in the province being put at stake, the reelectionist governor said. Never known to be arrogant, Chatto asserted that, as far as he is concerned, he is “sure and certain” of his moral ascendancy. (Ven rebo Arigo)