186 drug-linked LGU leaders stripped of power over police

Acting Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

A total of 186 local executives under the Duterte administration have been stripped of supervisory powers over the local police due to their alleged links to the narcotics trade, or their failure to stop acts of terrorism, or for providing support to terror groups.

Of the 186, eight are provincial governors and 178 are either city or municipal mayors, according to acting Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

Año bared these numbers during a forum organized by the Cabinet’s participatory cluster in Pasay City on Wednesday, in anticipation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s report on peace and order during his State of the Nation Address on July 23.

Halili killing

The governors and mayors who lost their supervisory powers over the local police were not identified by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the statement it issued about the forum on Friday.

Cases of local executives losing deputation powers have received increased scrutiny lately following the recent brazen killing of Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan City, Batangas province.

The National Police Commission last year stripped Halili and four other mayors in Southern Tagalog of deputation powers allegedly for having links to the illegal drug trade.

A sniper shot and killed Halili during flag-raising rites at the Tanauan City Hall on July 2. No police officer was on Halili’s security detail at the time of his death.

Four mayors on the “narcolist” of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have been killed since the President launched his administration’s bloody war on drugs in 2016.

156 execs suspended

Apart from Halili, the other slain local executives were Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte province; Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog of Ozamiz City; and Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, Maguindanao province.

In addition to the 186, Año said 156 other local officials had either been suspended or dismissed from their posts due to grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, neglect of duty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, abuse of authority, and irregularities since July 2016, when Mr. Duterte took office.

Of the number, 17 were local officials in Aklan province who were charged with administrative or criminal cases by the DILG based on the findings of an investigating team formed as part of Boracay Island’s rehabilitation, Año said.

The DILG also served 237 Ombudsman decisions, investigated 57 complaints against local officials, and issued and implemented eight show-cause orders against illegal mining operations in the Caraga region.

At least 16 local officials will also be charged administratively soon for failing to organize and convene their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council, Año said.

“By offering the public mechanisms to report complaints, such as the hotline 8888 and the Office of the President itself, we were able to investigate and file cases against local officials alleged to be abusive or not performing their job in accordance with their mandate,” the DILG chief said.