MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to release the names of village officials in his so-called “narco list.”
The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are on May 14.
Included in the list were 89 barangay chairmen and 122 barangay councilmen, said PDEA director general Aaron Aquino.
The list originally contained 216 names but five barangay captains were taken off it; they would be subjected to further validation, said Aquino.
“I am now finalizing the list and within the week I will call for another press conference,” said Aquino.
He would seek guidance from Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer-in-charge Secretary Eduardo Año on the publication of the names in the list.
“I am assuring everyone that this is a validated list. This list came from Malacañang and from all intelligence units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the NICA (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency), the Philippine National Police and PDEA,” said Aquino.
The PDEA chief said his men have also started building up cases against the village officials.
Asked how they validated the information on the barangay officials, Aquino answered: “We know that they are validated information and that these people are involved but we still need to sit down and further strengthen the case against them.” (PNA)
