FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was on the drug watch list of the government, a claim immediately rejected by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Speaking at a prayer rally in Davao City to express opposition to the people’s initiative for charter change, Duterte said that Marcos’ name was on a list of drug personalities that the PDEA had previously shown him. 

“Nung ako mayor, pinakitaan ako ng evidence ng PDEA. Doon sa listahan, nandoon yung pangalan mo. Ayaw kong sabihin ‘yan kasi magkaibigan tayo. Kung ‘di man magkaibigan, magkakilala,” Duterte said. 

The former president also called his successor a “drug addict.”

On Monday, the PDEA came out with a statement refuting Duterte’s claim. 

“When PDEA was activated, it established its National Drug Information System or NDIS, which is still in existence today. The NDIS is the intelligence database of all drug personalities, gathering inputs from counterparts in both law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” the PDEA said. 

“Pursuant to its mandate under Republic Act 9165, or The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, PDEA regularly conducts intelligence workshops in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies to update the NDIS. From its inception in 2002 and up to the present, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was NEVER in our NDIS,” it added.

Marcos was also not on the Inter-Agency Drug Information Database, the agency said. 

Duterte made the allegations on the same day Marcos led a kick-off rally for his Bagong Pilipinas campaign at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. 

In his speech, Duterte said the Marcoses are attempting to perpetuate themselves in power by revising the 1987 Constitution through a people’s initiative allegedly orchestrated by the president’s cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez.

The people’s initiative has been branded as fake and divisive by senators, the Dutertes and their allies amid claims that government funds are being utilized to persuade people to support it. 

Romualdez denied having a direct hand in the signature campaign. 

Duterte said he does not want Marcos to suffer the same fate as his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was overthrown in 1986 by the People Power Revolution on allegations of corruption and violations of human rights. 

“Mr. President, baka susunod ka sa dinaanan ng tatay mo. Diyan ako takot. Ayaw ko mangyari sa iyo ‘yan. Ako lang nagmamakaawa kasi it will divide the nation at madugo itong panahong ito,” the former president said.

Duterte also urged the military and the police to protect the constitution.

“Kung nakikinig kayo, gusto niyo iwasan ang dugo, kayo lang makakapigil nito. Tigilin niyong kalokohan na ‘yan or yung mga rally na ganito will multiply all over the Philippines,” he said.

 “Alam ninyo kung hindi na talaga ito mapigilan, andiyan ang military at police, makinig kayo… pag-aralan ninyo kung anong pinapakain nila sa taumbayan, at pagka nakita ninyo kung ano ang mali, you correct it. Nasa inyong kamay na ‘yan,” he added. 

Vice President Sara Duterte and Senator Imee Marcos, the president’s sister, were also in Davao City on Sunday.