BOLINAO – “My conscience is clear and I keep calm. The people here know how we struggled in our business, including our modest lifestyle!”

First District Rep. Jesus “Boying” Celeste told The PUNCH as he reiterated his earlier statement that he is open to any investigation to clear his name after President Duterte named him as among the narco-politicians and other “very important persons (VIPs)” in government allegedly behind illegal drugs.

He said his political enemies kept dragging his name in illegal drug trade since 2001, particularly during elections but it frustrated them because he said the people always gave him and his brothers overwhelming mandate each time.

“This (narco-list read by the President) is an old report. They should validate it. I am no longer former mayor, I am now congressman,” he added.

The President mentioned Celeste as former mayor of Bolinao. He served as Bolinao mayor for three successive terms and is now in his last term as congressman.

He said he and his brothers’ political detractors may have succeeded this time in their old black propaganda “but it’s better this way so we can answer the allegations and finally put it to rest in the presence no less than the President if given the chance to see him personally”.

He said he was not surprised that media went to town with the list but he insisted “their (government) intelligence is poor. I am even vigorously campaigning against illegal drugs since I was mayor. In fact, I banned selling cigarettes in my resort because I hate vices,” he said.

“My last word to them is they cannot put a good man down,” Celeste added.

On Aug. 7, the day the President read out the narco-list, Celeste surrendered his firearms to the police as a sign of sincerity and cooperation to the Chief Executive’s drive through his brother, Bolinao Mayor Arnold Celeste.

The surrendered guns were one shotgun DAEW model 12 GA with one magazine loaded with four bullets, one shotgun MOSBR model without ammunition, one Galil caliber .223 with magazine loaded with 20 bullets, one MPST/Uzi caliber .941F/ 9MM with magazine loaded with four bullets, one caliber 9 mm with magazine loaded with seven bullets, one caliber 5.56 with two magazines loaded with 60 bullets, one M16 Rifle Bush master with one magazine loaded with three bullets and one caliber .45 with one magazine loaded with two bullets.

The congressman said his family is feeling extreme sadness over “the false and concocted” report linking him to the drug trade.

He said the fact that he was described as former mayor although he is already in his third term as congressman tells how outdated the information given the President.

He accused his political enemy, former congressman and former Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, as the one behind his inclusion in the list. Braganza had fought both the congressman and his brother, Mayor Arthur Celeste of Alaminos City.

“We, together with my family, believe that the wrong information received by the good President came from him to destroy the good name of the Celestes in the first district of Pangasinan,” Celeste said.

BRAGANZA REACTS

“Huwag kang praning. Sa presinto ka na magpaliwanag.”

This was the advice given by Braganza, now a government peace negotiator, to Celeste.

“Rep. Celeste is seeing ghosts everywhere. Instead of blaming others for his misfortune, he better report to the proper authorities and explain what he knows about the illicit drug trade in the country,” Braganza said in a statement yesterday.

Braganza made the remark after Celeste named him in his statement Sunday, copy of which was posted in his brother’s Facebook account, Alaminos City Mayor Arthur Celeste, as the one responsible for the congressman’s inclusion in the list of government officials tagged by President Duterte as coddlers of drug lords and pushers.

Braganza said Celeste’s accusation was a classic case of diversion meant to inject politics as the reason behind the President’s move against government officials linked to drug trade.

“Rep. Celeste is a master of squid tactics. Kapag may kaso siyang kinakaharap, isisisi sa pulitika para ilihis ang atensyon ng publiko,” Braganza said.

“He cannot get away with this tactic this time. Politics has nothing to do with the President’s war against drug trafficking. Rep. Celeste should better pick another excuse,” he added. (Tita Roces/Nora Dominguez)

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