Former Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol came to his friend and businessman Sammy Uy’s defense after former Senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV alleged that Vice President Sara Duterte and her family had received millions of pesos from Uy, who is supposedly a drug lord.

In an interview on DZRH's Balansyado on Thursday, April 23, Piñol said that Uy is from an old Filipino-Chinese family who pioneered stores selling appliances. He was among former President Rodrigo Duterte’s close friends; Piñol said he was treated like a brother.

“Kasuhan niyo ng anong kaso si Sammy Uy? Drugs? I will not believe that. It’s beyond him,” Piñol said.

Uy was instrumental in inviting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who met Duterte at his home in Doña Luisa Subdivision, Davao, Piñol claimed, and argued that a drug lord would not have such connections.

“A drug lord won’t be able to do that: befriend a staff of (the) prime minister of Japan. Siguro naman, ‘yung intelligence agency ng Japan would conduct a background investigation,” Piñol said.

The former agriculture chief said that Uy had also defended him before then-President Duterte when he was accused of profiting from rice imports, reportedly because he had opposed the former administration’s economic managers regarding the Rice Tariffication Law.

“At ngayon na siya naman ang kinakasuhan nang hindi tama, I think as a friend, I have to stand up for him and tell the people na ‘yung pini-picture niyo na Sammy Uy na drug lord, hindi totoo ‘yan. It’s unfair,” Piñol said.

On Wednesday, Trillanes claimed that Uy was a drug lord who became a major donor for Duterte’s presidential campaign during the 2016 national elections.

According to Duterte’s Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE), the Filipino-Chinese businessman from Davao and three others contributed more than half of the campaign’s reported cash donations.