PDEA readying raps vs narco barangay officials

Now that the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections are over, the head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said criminal charges are being readied against both winning and losing barangay officials included in the government’s narco list.

PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said cases are being prepared against the 207 officials in the list, whether they won or lost in last Monday’s polls.

Aquino said the narco list “helped a lot” in guiding the voting public on whom to vote for in the recently concluded elections.

He added that he was happy as many of those in the list lost their bid for reelection.

“Sa totoo lang the list helped a lot. Ang panganib if hindi na-disclose ‘tong list na ‘to baka nanalo lahat (The truth is the list helped a lot. The danger was, if the list had not been made public, everyone would have won),” he said in a phone interview.

Among the losing candidates is Tinajeros, Malabon barangay captain Alvin Mañalac who faces a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman following the discovery of a drug laboratory within his jurisdiction last month.

Moreover, initial reports reaching the PDEA showed that there are 26 barangay captains and 15 kagawads (councilors) who won in the elections despite being included in the narco list, six of whom won seats in Metro Manila.

Aquino explained that these are initial figures as PDEA offices in Regions 2, 4A, 5, 7, 8, 13 and the Cordillera Administrative Region have not submitted their reports as of press time.

He also lamented that there have been reports of massive vote buying, which may have led to the reelection of the narco-listed officials.

Aquino alleged that drug money may have been used in the barangay elections, one of the possibility raised by President Duterte when he batted for the postponement of the polls.

Duterte ordered the release of the narco list two weeks before the May 14 elections, a move criticized by some groups.

The PDEA and other law enforcement agencies have repeatedly defended the release of the drug list, claiming that this was not a hit list and all information has been verified. –