Inter-agency group validating info on 21 Abra ‘narco-pols’

BANGUED, Abra – An inter-agency group composed of government law enforcement units is validating the latest list of politicians reportedly involved in illegal drugs downloaded by Malacañang, with 21 of them coming from the province.

Julius Paderes, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) – Abra provincial director, who represented their regional office during the Joint Regional Development Council - Regional Peace and Order Council (RDC-RPOC) meeting said about 60 percent of the “narco-politicians” are at the barangay level, while the others are occupying higher positions. He, however, declined to give further details.

Paredes said the list was handed down by the PDEA-Cordillera regional office this week with an order to validate the names and check on their involvement in the illegal drug trade in the province.

“We will come up with pieces of evidence to prove or dispute the existence of the names in the list,” Paderes told members of the RDCRPOC.

Paredes said with the names having come from President Rodrigo Duterte, they really need to work on it and provide the Chief Executive an accurate feedback.

The validation, he explained, is being done with the help of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Baguio City Mayor and RDC-RPOC Chair-

man Mauricio Domogan advised the PDEA to exert all available and necessary effort in validating the names to make sure that those who are not really in the illegal drug activity would be deleted from the list and cleared.

“It is unfair to submit names of persons, especially if there is no definiteness in their involvement,” Domogan said.

In the first few months of the Duterte administration, 79 names of individuals from the Cordillera were reported to be engaged in illegal drugs and they were subjected to validation. Some surrendered to avail of the government’s rehabilitation program, were continuously monitored and upon compliance with the reformation program, have either been cleared, downgraded or delisted.

Also in the meeting, PDEA asked RDC-RPOC to help transmit to the local government units in the region the need for their support in the country’s war against illegal drugs by providing relevant information.

Duterte had placed the war on drugs in the hands of the PDEA, leaving the PNP in the backseat.

However, with only 81 PDEA personnel in the Cordillera region, the agency needs the community’s involvement in the anti-drug campaign by providing relevant information.