BACOLOD City – Liga ng mga Barangay president Lady Gles Pallen of Barangay Taculing has appealed to her fellow barangay captains in this city to voluntary submit themselves to drug tests following the warning of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In his message between street and arena dance competition – school category performances while gracing the 2018 MassKara celebration, Duterte warned an unnamed barangay captain here who he alleges is engaged in illegal drugs.
The President instructed the unidentified official to leave the city or get killed.
“I will destroy you,” Duterte warned the barangay captain as he vowed to sustain his war on drugs up to the end of his six-year term in 2022.
Pallen said one way to prove that the 61 barangay captains of this city are not involved in illegal drugs is for them to voluntarily submit themselves to a drug test, scheduled to be held sometime this month.
This is also one way to clear themselves of the allegations leveled by the president, Pallen added.
Pallen shares she was on the same stage the president was standing on when Duterte made his pronouncements. She admitted being alarmed and shocked by the accusations of the chief executive.
The village chief said she has yet to hear reports submitted to the authorities linking a Bacolod City barangay captain to illegal drugs.
Pallen clarified that the drug tests to be conducted for the barangay captains of this city will only be voluntary and not mandatory.
The Liga ng mga Punong Barangay president said that she has already sent out notices to the barangay captains regarding the drug test.
Earlier, village officials of several barangays here already underwent drug tests including the barangay of Taculing, Pallen said./PN
