6 congressmen, 87 local execs in PDEA narco list

There are around 93 elected government officials, including mayors and congressmen, in the most recent “narco” list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said the list contained at least 67 mayors, six congressmen and a few vice mayors and vice governors.

Aquino said a majority of those in the list are incumbent officials.

Without mentioning specific figures, he said most of these officials are in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Autonomous Region in Mus- lim Mindanao and Northern Mindanao.

“Most of them are drug coddlers and protectors. Some are users,” Aquino said at a news conference in Quezon City yesterday.

Asked if there are also governors, Aquino said he has yet to see all the names in the list.

“In fact, I don’t want to see who are the people involved,” he told journalists.

Aquino said he is waiting President Duterte’s order on whether to release the list to the public.

The PDEA chief said they have revalidated about 75 percent of the names in the list. Revalidation of the remaining 25 percent will be completed in two to three weeks, he said.

The agency is gathering evidence and building cases against the officials.

Aquino said some officials in the list had visited him at his office in Quezon City to clear their names.

“They are welcome here in PDEA. The others have done it already. They have explained to me,” he said.

Two weeks before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the PDEA released the names of 207 barangay officials suspected of involvement with illegal drugs.

Name names

Meanwhile, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III has urged the PDEA to name the six or seven congressmen included in its latest narco list.

“The PDEA chief should name names, but only if he has evidence that can stand in court. He should file criminal charges in court against them and an ethics complaint with the House of Representatives,” Albano said.

He said Aquino should file charges not only against the congressmen, but all those whom he has evidence of involvement in illegal drugs, whether they are users, peddlers or protectors of drug traffickers.

“He could be accused of wanting more publicity or smearing these public servants if he does not have solid evidence,” Albano said.

“Because of the PDEA chief’s statement, every House member is now under a cloud, which is unfair to say the least,” he added.

Albano urged Aquino to learn from his past mistakes.

He cited the release by the PDEA of the names of more than 200 barangay officials it accused of involvement in illegal drugs.

A widow complained why her husband was in the list when he had been dead since January 2017.

Another instance, Albano said, was when President Duterte had to apologize to and clear Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr. after he tagged the latter in a narco list drawn up principally by the PDEA.

“They have embarrassed no less than the President. They should not commit the same mistake again,” he said.

Reiterating Albano’s call, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said filing formal complaints is the most appropriate thing to do, instead of resorting to publicity.

Castelo said the PDEA should observe the legal principle that everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Opposition Rep. Tom Villarin of Akbayan said the PDEA should file charges first before naming the officials in the narco list. –