LAWYER and Caloocan vice mayoral candidate Antonio Mariano Almeda denied any knowledge why the government car that was lent to him ended up in the possession of a suspected American drug trafficker who was arrested in a posh condominium earlier this week with P50 million worth of narcotics.
"Reports linking my name to the Mitsubishi Pajero (SEP 825) found in the garage of an American who was arrested for illegal possession of drugs comes as a complete surprise to me," Almeda said. "I do not know this Brian Hills. I have never met him. I never delivered the Pajero to him. I have never been to his residence. I have no idea how he came to possess the Pajero or how the Pajero wound up in his garage."
Drug enforcers arrested Hills at his temporary residence at The Columns at the corner of Ayala and Buendia Avenues last Tuesday after weeks of surveillance by the Philippine National Police Anti Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force.
Lawmen found one kilo of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, in his apartment and nine more kilos in the government car that he had been using and was parked in the slot assigned to his apartment. The car was later found to be registered under the name of the state-owned National Power Corp.
But the Napocor said the car was actually lent to the chief of staff of then Pampangan Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo in 2008 and had not been returned despite repeated communications with Arroyo's office.
Almeda, however, said he returned the vehicle to the Napocor in 2009 after he stopped being Arroyo's chief of staff. "I have not possessed or used or driven the Pajero since then."
"As far as I recall, I ordered my driver to return the Pajero and was given a check-list by Napocor as proof of delivery of the Pajero," Almeda said adding that he is trying to retrieve the document that will prove that he returned the vehicle.
Meanwhile, the United Nationalist Alliance denied allegations that it will drop Almeda as vice mayoral candidate.
UNA secretary general and campaign manager, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, in a telephone interview said UNA will only evaluate and decide on the matter if Almeda is implicated in Hills' alleged drug trafficking.
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