THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) national office released its long-awaited list of barangay chairs linked to drug operations. We counted 207 in the list, of which three are from Region 11. One barangay chair from Lupon, Davao Oriental, one kagawad from Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental, and another kagawad from Malita, Davao Occidental.
As PDEA 11 Regional Director Antonio Rivera said, they have 13 in their list, three barangay captains, one municipal councilor, and the rest are barangay kagawads. This means, two more barangay captains have not been named, along with the other barangay kagawads, and yes, that municipal councilor.
In the list are Erwin "Eryong" Budiang Barabag, listed as the barangay captain of Macangao in Lupon, and Kagawads Karold Mark D. Seteota of barangay Butulan in JAS and Leo Gilla of barangay Tingolo of Malita.
Topping the list in numbers are those from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), particularly from the province of Abra. But then, if there were only three listed in Region 11 when we were expecting 13, then we could assume that there are a lot more in CAR. President Rodrigo Duterte would have had said that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, meaning, there should be no exceptions and everyone should be given the same treatment. So why is it that only one barangay chair and two kagawads were named? We wonder.
Anyway, that's that. We wait.
In the meantime, we ask our law enforcers, now that you know the three, is there anything being done about the barangays they belong to?
Barangay officials involved in illegal drugs cannot operate without a network and without a market. How are their barangays and how many of their minions are on the take or profitting from protection? Most of all, who do they answer to?
Like in Abra, for example, a province could not have that many barangay officials linked in an illegal trade if the higher-ups are not involved.
These are questions that law enforcers and residents alike must be asking now as we wait for the full story and hope that this menace will finally be contained and forced to operate only in the farthest fringe of society, away from our children and the youths.