Taguig Mayor Freddie R. Tiñga and his father, former Supreme Court Justice and mayoralty candidate Dante O. Tiñga yesterday denounced accusations made by a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent linking their names to the dismissal of a drug case against three alleged relatives.

The move is obviously part of a black propaganda being orchestrated by political opponents of the Tiñgas.

Father and son are set to file administrative charges against PDEA agent Jeffrey M. Roquero, the source of a malicious news article accusing them of having influenced former Pasig RTC Judge Raul Villanueva into dismissing a drug case against Fernando and Alberto Tinga and Allan Carlos last December.

The Tiñgas questioned the timing of the administrative case filed by Roquero against Judge Villanueva, which maliciously became the basis of the news article linking their names as alleged coddlers of the drug suspects.

Taguig Legal Officer Atty. Sheilah Uyboco said that if Roquero was serious in winning the case against the three drug suspects, he should have waited for the resolution of a motion for reconsideration they filed in court, instead of using the issue as "black propaganda" against the Tingas.

Mayor Tiñga stressed that Taguig has always worked hand in hand with PDEA in the war against illegal drugs. PDEA Director-General Dionisio Santiago even acknowledged Mayor Tinga’s all-out support to the joint anti-drug campaign, stressing that no effort has been spared and no person is above the law, and even those who claim to be related to the mayor have been arrested.

“You cannot choose your relatives. Mayor Tiñga is making an honest-to-goodness effort to clean his area of drugs and he will not tolerate anyone in any illegal activity,” Santiago said.

Mayor Tiñga lamented that what is most tragic, is that while the city government continues to step up its efforts to rid Taguig of drug elements, their political opponents spend all their time and money trying to manufacture baseless issues against them.

“Our opponents realize that they are way behind in the polls, and need to do something drastic to get attention. In their desperation, they have to make up stories for lack of valid issues they can raise against us,” Tiñga said.

“i have four young children, two of whom are teenagers. We try our best to instill in them the dangers of drugs. I hope they realize how these issues can affect my children, if they read something like this,” the mayor added.

Meanwhile, Judge Villanueva expressed his dismay over the news article which has put his name in a bad light over a complaint that is supposed to be treated with confidentiality based on the procedures being observed in the Judiciary.

“What this (article) achieved was to personally malign me, tarnish my reputation and publicize a matter that is purely legal in nature.  May I just say that I was just doing my job in resolving the demurrer on the basis of what the prosecution presented as its evidence against the accused. I did not go outside of the facts and circumstances obtaining in the instant cases,” Judge Villanueva said.

“All I want is fairness and objectivity. Simply because IO2 Roquero is making all the one-sided public statements does not mean that he is being faithful to the facts and truthful to the legal situation at hand,” he added.

Villanueva is well-known in the Judiciary and was the former Vice President of the Philippine Judges Association.  He is well regarded as a man of integrity and principle.