PNP Deputy Director General Arturo Cacdac. Photo from https://www,pnp.gov.ph
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has released a list of “government officials involved in illegal drugs.”
But it failed to impress House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez who said it included only “small fry” like town mayors, councilors, and barangay (village) chairs and councilmen.
To prompt the PDEA to reveal more names and details, Suarez has filed a resolution seeking a House inquiry into the agency’s revelations that some government officials were involved in illegal drugs.
Suarez said he was not satisfied with the list because, for one thing, it included the name of former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson who, he noted, was “not a drug pusher but a user.
“[Singson’s] case is over… and Ronald is not a pusher. He is a user,” he told reporters.
Singson served 11 months of an 18-month sentence in Hong Kong where he was arrested in July 2010 after he was found in possession of 6.67 grams of cocaine and two tablets of Valium. He claimed that he did not intend to sell the illegal drugs.
PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon insisted that the list submitted to the House by PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac Jr. contained “tangible figures” and not based on mere suspicions.
“The list that (Cacdac) presented is a record of the status of cases of personalities occupying government posts who have been arrested (for drug-related cases),” he said in a phone interview.
The PDEA list included 53 government officials who were arrested in connection with illegal drugs possession. Other than Singson, the highest officials in the list were town mayors and councilors, and a former candidate for the provincial board.
The East Visayas region had the most number of names with eight, followed by Cagayan Valley with seven. Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao each had five, while the Cordillera Administrative Region had three.
Suarez said he was “not impressed” with the PDEA list as it involved only “small fry.”
“We are talking here of chicken feed. A barangay councilman, a councilor of a small town? (The names) are very small. In the meantime, we know that the industry is worth about P800 billion,” he said.
The congressman said he would “not be surprised” if there are highly placed government officials involved in illegal drugs, particularly with the coming elections as illegal drugs are “a very easy source of funds.” With Marlon Ramos