Retire police general and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot on Monday denied any connection to the illegal drug trade, saying he did not know self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa or his alleged bagman, C/Insp. Leo Laraga.

"Si Kerwin at si Police C/Insp. Laraga ay parehong hindi ko kilala. Kung nagsasabi sila ng totoo, klaro na may nakinabang ang binigyan ng pera matapos gamitin ang pangalan ko," he said in the resumption of the Senate's probe into the killing of Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte.

In a previous hearing, the younger Espinosa alleged that Loot received P120,000 from him weekly, with P100,000 going to Loot and P20,000 to Laraga.

• READ: Boss K's Web: Espinosa names police protectors, drug sources

But as Loot faced the Senators Monday, he asserted that his name was only used to extort money from Espinosa, one of the biggest drug dealers in Eastern Visayas.

"Clearly again, I was a victim here of name-dropping or influence-peddling, a practice done by subordinates. This is very common in the PNP—kung ikaw ay commander lang ng isang operating unit, may kredibilidad at mabait at madaling maibenta yung pangalan mo at mapagkitaan ng influence peddlers," he said.

Loot added the person asked for a relatively small amount from Kerwin so as to not raise suspicion on its validity.

"Kung pagbasehan natin yung hierarchy of payola ni Kerwin na depende sa rango ang ibibinibigay weekly, klaro na may low-ranking officer or non-commissioned na officer na gumamit ng pangalan ko para lumaki ang take niya weekly," he said.

"He is just careful enough to demand an amount that will not require Kerwin to double check. Otherwise, had he asked for P1-million or P3-million monthly, Kerwin would have demanded for confirmation from me either by phone or in person," he added.

Loot also slammed the intelligence reports that claimed he was the "original handler of Kerwin Espinosa" after he recruited him to "recycle confiscated drugs" when he was the chief of Regional Anti-Narcotics Unit–7 (RANU-7).

He said he was only the chief of the said unit from July 2000 until 2002 when he joined Philippine Center for Transnational Crime in Camp Crame.

"In his testimony, Kerwin stated that he started selling drugs in 2004, two years after I left RANU-7," he said.

"It is very clear now that the intel report is really not that intelligent, basically untrue, and most likely fabricated by people whose shoes I may have stepped upon, and those reports have been capitalized by our political enemies, whose influence have reached the office of the president," he added.

Loot also said the claim that he visited Espinosa in detention so that no charges may be filed against him "defies logic," because eyes were already trained on him when a "barrage of fictitious complaints" about him coddling Espinosa had sprung after his name was floated by Mayor Joseph Estrada as his personal choice to become district director of the Manila Police District.

"So why should I visit him when I am already being investigated for protecting him? A ranking police official visiting a high-profile drug personality in a secured government installation with guards, logbooks, and CCTVs will never escape public consciousness and scrutiny," he said.

MATIRA'S INEFFICIENCY

Loot also blasted Police Supt. Noel Matira, saying the claim that he and Police C/Supt. Asher Dolina blocked their arrest of Espinosa was only used to cover Matira's ineffectiveness.

He explained, as far as he knows, Espinosa was already detained in Ormoc City Jail when he left the Police Regional Office-8 in December 26, 2012.

"This statement is obviously perjured, using the cover-up of Police Supt. Matira’s inefficiency. Ito po ay isang palusot lamang, para ipahayag sa iba at mapagtakpan ang kaniyang kakulangan sa pagganap niya sa kaniyang trabaho," he said.

Loot asserted, he would not have the power to protect or coddle any criminal when the last seven years of his police service had been "purely administrative in nature," with the last two as director of the PNP training service.

"Protection by a police officer to any criminal requires position and command and control over the unit or personnel involved in such snit-criminality operations. In my case, I have none of the above," he said.

"Logically, I cannot offer what I do not have. I only have the rank, the credibility, and the amiable and approachable personality that scalawags and unscrupulous people [use] to peddle for their own personal interests," he added.