NO POLITICIANS from Davao Region were included in the narco-list bared by President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night, March 4, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Davao assured.
PDEA-Davao director Antonio Rivera said in an interview Friday they have not monitored any high-ranking elected officials in Davao Region who is linked to illegal drugs or a protector of illegal drug trade.
The PDEA-Davao chief said that although they have their own narco-list but these are merely “barangay-level” such as village chairman and councilors but no mayor, vice mayor or congressman.
As part of their intensified war on drugs, authorities continuously conduct operations to run after drug suspects in accordance to the directive of the President especially those in their watchlist.
President Rodrigo Duterte bared the government’s narco-list containing the names of politicians allegedly involved in illegal drugs which includes 35 mayors, seven vice mayors, one provincial board member, and three members of the House of Representatives.
Duterte said that there will be a second batch of government list of illegal drugs that they will release.
However, Rivera assured that no politicians in the region are included in the next batch of narco-list.
Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) revealed that charges have been filed at the Office of the Ombudsman against these narco-politicians even before it was made public.
Charges filed were administrative in nature like grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, conduct unbecoming of a public officer, and gross neglect of duty.