By: Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City My father is innocent.
This was how the daughter of retired Police Major Lito Pirote described him, amid reports linking her father in the illegal drugs trade.
Pirotes daughter, whose name was withheld for security reasons, shared their difficulties in finding their father, during the launching of Ang Pangako Ko campaign initiated by the Diocese of Bacolod against vote selling here on Friday.
Pirote, who remains missing for more than two weeks now, was abducted by three unidentified armed men outside a hotel here last April 19.
Pirotes daughter said their family is having a hard time finding their father, despite efforts by the police and other law enforcement units like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in locating him.
They are wondering if the incident has a connection to the dismissal of her fathers drug case.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier linked Pirotes abduction to illegal drugs.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 8 dismissed for lack of probable cause Pirotes drug case after he was included in the drug matrix of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018.
The dismissal came out nearly two weeks before the retired cop was abducted.
They cannot just say that my father is involved in drugs just because his former boss was also part of the drug matrix. This is not a drama or a play, she said.
We are waiting for my father everyday and its sad that this is happening especially here in Bacolod. We do not know what to do. We already asked the help of the authorities but we need the help of bigger people, the people we have voted and appointed or even the president himself.
She challenged the NBI and the local police to give attention to her fathers case.
This is a call to the authorities to do their part, she said.
Police still have no lead on the identities of Pirotes abductors.
We have no money. We cannot even afford to have bodyguards. I am using my voice to spread the truth and I am asking for your prayers, she said.
This must end now. Let us hope for a better tomorrow, a less-stained land, she said.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Bacolod has also been helping Pirotes children.
Rev. Fr. Cris Gonzales, head of Social Action Center (SAC), said they will help them as much as they can, especially through prayers.
