Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) who were included in the recently exposed list of politicians allegedly involved in illegal drugs may face possible expulsion.
PDP-Laban President and Senator Koko Pimentel said this Friday, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte, the ruling party’s chairman, made public the names of 46 so-called “narco politicians.”
READ: Duterte exposes 46 ‘narco politicians’
Pimentel said party members included on the “narcolist” will be required to explain their inclusion and “if we find their explanation to be unsatisfactory, then we will expel them from the PDP-LABAN.”
“The party has no place for narco-politicians as well as for corrupt officials. We do not want them in our party,” Pimentel told reporters in a Viber message.
Of the 46 names Duterte bared on Thursday night, three of them were members of the House of Representatives, namely: Leyte 3rd District Rep. Vicente Veloso, Zambales 1st District Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun, and Pangasinan 1st District Rep. Jesus Celeste.
Khonghun is a member of PDP-Laban.
Among those names exposed by the President also include 35 mayors, seven vice mayors, and a provincial board member. /kga
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