Palace backs barangay drug probe

Malacañang on Thursday said Interior Undersecretary Martin Diño should investigate barangay officials who had been tagged by President Duterte as “protectors” of illegal drugs.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Diño should begin by using the “already existing data bank that we have,” referring to the administration’s list of barangay officials linked to the drug trade.

The President in October said that up to 40 percent of the country’s 42,000 barangays were “contaminated with ‘shabu’” and most of the barangay captains were “actually protectors” of illegal drugs.

Diño was appointed on Monday as undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Shortly after assuming the post, he ordered barangay officials to come up with a list of suspected drug pushers and other criminals in their communities.

Malacañang backed the order, saying there was “nothing wrong” with Diño’s directive “for as long as it will entail conduct of an investigation to verify the information.”

Ensuring peace and order

In an interview on GMA 7 aired on Thursday, Diño said identifying residents suspected of having links to illegal drugs was part of a barangay captain’s responsibility to ensure peace and order in the community.

“The beauty of this is that barangay captains—knowing this as a former village chief— are the most gossipy people in the Philippines. Because if you do not know what is happening in your barangay, you are ‘good for nothing’ barangay captain,” he said.

When he was chief of Barangay San Antonio in Quezon City, he had to include his own brother and another relative in a drug watch list, he said.

Diño still has to consult DILG officer in charge Eduardo Año on possible sanctions against barangay captains who do not produce the watch list.