Fell short on war on drugs? Batangas, Lucena execs under probe

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER.net file photo / Daphne Galvez

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Monday that he has ordered an investigation against local government officials in Batangas province and Lucena City to see if they have neglected their duty in the government’s war on drugs.

“Yes, I have already given instruction to the PNP and the Bureau of Local Government Supervision to validate the pronouncement of PRRD (President Rodrigo Duterte’s initials),” he told INQUIRER.net in a text message.

Año made the remark when asked if the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will investigate whether local officials in the areas have neglected their duty on the war on drugs, as Duterte said the areas have been “red-tagged” in the country’s drug menace.

READ: Duterte: Drugs prevalent in Batangas province, Lucena City

Without dropping names and identifying cities or provinces, PNP chief Police General Oscar Albayalde also said on Monday that some local chief executives are “still not serious in the war on drugs until now.”

“Sometimes ‘yung mga local chief executives natin, hindi naman po lahat, pero meron din diyan na wala din ginawa kundi they blame everything to the PNP and yet wala naman silang binibigay na suporta,” he said.

(Sometimes our local chief executives, though not all of them, they don’t do anything but blame everything to the PNP and yet they do not give any support.)

Albayalde also said that the police in Calabarzon, where the two areas are situated, are performing well in the war on drugs.

But with the President’s pronouncement, Albayalde said the PNP will look at the performance of the police situated in the red-tagged areas. /jpv