DAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he plans to go after 35 mayors and governors who are allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, according to a congressional leader who met with the incoming president Tuesday.
Incoming House minority leader Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who was among the congressmen who met with Duterte on Tuesday, said Duterte identified the local leaders in a meeting that was attended by incumbent Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and incoming Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez
“He is giving them some leeway to confess so that they can get lighter sentences, but he is not saying clemency or pardon,” the ABS-CBN television network quoted Suarez as saying.
Suarez declined to identify the 35 local leaders mentioned by Duterte, but hinted that they are mayors and governors.
Duterte also told solons that he intends to clean the ranks of the Philippine National Police as some of its members have been lured into the illegal drug industry.
“He even mentioned that he might need the support of the Armed Forces in the cleansing method, eliminating those men in uniform who are involved in this drug issue,” Suarez said.
The 71-year-old Davao mayor previously called on three drug-tainted PNP generals to step down from their posts before the Duterte administration formally takes office on June 30.
Meanwhile, incoming Philippine National Police director Chief Superintendent Ronald de la Rosa said the PNP must consider quality and not quantity in order to attain victory against criminality and illegal drugs under the Duterte administration.
Dela Rosa said that it would be much better to have a small number of police as long as they are sure that they will work wholeheartedly and will not engage in any illegal activity.
“It’s not the quantity we need, we need quality,” he said, adding the PNP leadership have to place the right person in the right position to fulfill the plan aimed at curbing the prevalence of illegal drugs and criminality within the time frame of three to six months.
The incoming PNP chief hopes that his colleagues would understand his actions for he is only doing his job.