DILG chief urges local execs to seek police help

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told local executives on Wednesday to seek the help of the police should they receive death threats.

The head of the Department of  the Interior and Local Government (DILG) made the call in the wake of the killing of Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan City in Batangas, and Mayor Ferdinand Bote of Gen. Tinio in Nueva Ecija.

He said Halili did not coordinate the threats he allegedly received prior to his assassination.

“Nitong nakaraan meron pala siyang threats na natatanggap on a daily basis. Hindi alam ng DILG ‘yun (Recently he has been receiving threats on a daily basis. The DILG didn’t know that.),” the official said in an interview over dzMM.

“Kailangan makipag-ugnayan sila [local officials] sa otoridad. Makipag-ugnayan sa PDEA at sa PNP kung anong klaseng threat ‘yung natatanggap nila para makatulong tayo mag-analyze,” Año added. PNP is Philippine National Police while PDEA is Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

(They [local officials] should communicate with the authorities. They should communicate with PDEA and with PNP what kind of threat they are receiving so we can help analyze.)

He asserted that the police were willing to help if they find the officials’ claim on death threats to be real.

Aside from Halili, Año also cited the killings of three other local executives – Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, Albuera City Mayor Rolando Espinosa and Datu Saudi Ampatuan Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom – who were reportedly included in the so-called “narco-list.”

Año said Bote was not on the drug watch list of the administration. /cbb