INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno gave the go signal for the “drug watch list” to be handed over to the regional directors of the Philippine National Police (PNP) during a meeting Friday.
During the meeting, Sueno encouraged the participants, composed of local government heads and PNP regional directors, to keep their firm resolve in the fight against illegal drugs and confirmed that the list be furnished to the regional directors and be disseminated to local chief executives upon request.
“The controversial list containing the names of the local government executives, officials and civilians alike, who are involved in illegal drugs will be handed over to the PNP regional directors who are also RPOC (Regional Peace and Order Council) vice-chairpersons. This is to avoid any conflict of interest and malice as RPOC chairpersons are also local government executives,” he said.
Sueno said this was in response to what President Rodrigo Duterte pledged to the governors and mayors whom he met in two separate meetings in the past weeks.
In those meetings, Duterte said copies of the list would be sent to local executives so they have a clear view of what course of action they can take.
But Sueno said local officials requesting a copy of the list from the PNP regional directors should only be given the names of people who fall under their area of jurisdiction.
“If a mayor requests for a copy of the list, he would only obtain the names of alleged illegal drug personalities within his town or city. He will not be granted full access to the names of people outside his authority to maintain the confidentiality of the list,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has filed graft and corruption charges against local officials of Pampanga before the Office of the Ombudsman for the sale of more than 4,000 pigs in a swine farm used as front to conceal an underground clandestine shabu laboratory in Magalang, Pampanga.
In a statement Sunday, PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lapeña said that the agency is convinced that Mayor Maria Lourdes Paras Lacson of Magalang, Pampanga and Mayor Jose Maria Hizon of Bacolor, Pampanga, may be held liable for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
“Mayor Lacson surreptitiously sold the 4,038 pigs at an alleged public auction in the amount of P7 million to the lone bidder, Mayor Hizon. The auction was held without consulting us and without any legal basis. We only discovered the sale when it appeared in online news,” Lapeña said.
Also sued were respondents Raisa Bayani, Adela Tanhueco, Jesus Nathaniel Pili, Ryan Miranda, and Milagro Suing, all officers of the nunicipality of Magalang, Pampanga and members of the auction committee who conducted the bidding; and Marcial Alfaro, barangay chairman of Barangay San Ildefonso, Magalang, Pampanga.
Over the weekend, the Anti-Money Laundering Council said the beachfront property in Tanza, Cavite used as a shabu laboratory has been forfeited in favor of the government.