President Rodrigo Duterte is a protector of Philippine laws and not of a top drug lord, Malacanang said on Sunday.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, in an interview over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan, said he does not believe that Duterte is a drug protector after opposition Senator Leila de Lima made the allegation.

"I do not think and I do not believe (that he is a drug lord protector) and it has not crossed my mind," he said.

He added that the President is the top protector of the laws of the land.

"The President is the president of the land and he is the number one protector of our laws," Andanar said.

In a statement on Saturday, De Lima, who was also accused of her involvement in the illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary, questioned Duterte's credibility and asked if he is the top drug protector and coddler in the Philippines.

“We must start asking ourselves this question: whether or not the President, rather than De Lima, is actually the number one drug lord protector and coddler in the country,” she said.

She issued the statement after Duterte admitted that he was the one who called up Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa and asked that Police Superintendent Marvin Marcos of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 8 be reinstated.

Marcos was allegedly involved in illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas. He was also accused of killing Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., a suspected drug lord, inside a provincial jail. He claimed that what happened was a shoot out and not a rub out.

De Lima said Marcos' reinstatement should be a subject of the Senate inquiry.

In the same radio interview, Andanar was also asked on Senator Panfilo Lacson's observation and disappointment over the alleged double standard in the administration's anti-drug war.

“We take the Senator’s statement just like any person who gets criticized objectively and we take it openly,” he said.

Lacson expressed his dismay over the “double standard” and “double speak” in handling Marcos' case.

“I thought it was an all-out drug war I was supporting. Talk about double-standard. Talk about double-speak. Change isn’t coming after all,” he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS