Politicians on ‘narcolist’ down to 85 — PDEA

The number of “narcopoliticians” has been trimmed down to 85 after the arrest and death of 8 others, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said.

According to PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino, the 85 “narcopoliticians” were included in the 6,400 individuals who are part of the narcolist.

When pressed what the positions of the more than 6,000 individuals were, Aquino said that it covers all.

“Lahat na yun, kasama na ang uniformed service doon, government elected officials, mga civilians, even media, celebrities, judges, andoon na po lahat doon sa 6,000 plus na yon,” Aquino said over an interview with dzMm.

(It’s everything, including the uniformed service, government elected officials, civilians, even media, celebrities, judges — they’re all there in the 6,000 plus.)

“Even PDEA, even police, andoon lahat sa listahan na iyon (they’re all on the list),” he added.

Aquino also said that he went to the office of President Rodrigo Duterte last week to ask for help on how to adjudicate the high number of people on the narcolist.

“Pumunta ako kay Presidente, sabi ko sakanya ‘Sir, it’s a nightmare. I don’t know what will I do with this.. thick na listahan. I proposed na lahat ito ay iadjudicate natin’,” he said.

(I went to the President and told him, “Sir, this is a nightmare. I don’t know what I’ll do with this thick list. I propose that we adjudicate everyone on here.)

The PDEA chief added that he told the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to adjudicate their members who were included in the 6,400 individuals.

According to Aquino, the adjudication process of the PDEA would start next week and would first focus on the 85 politicians. /je