Twenty barangay officials in Manila have refused to give the police a list of known drug pushers in their area, making themselves open to criminal charges, according to a high-ranking police official.
Senior Supt. Marcelino Pedrozo, deputy director for operations of the Manila Police District (MPD), said the local officials had until Wednesday to give such lists to the MPD, but 20 out of the city’s 896 barangay chairs missed the deadline and gave reasons for their noncompliance.
“They said it’s for security reasons. Others said they couldn’t give that (information) because they might not get elected in the coming barangay elections,” Pedrozo told reporters in an interview at City Hall on Wednesday.
He also noted that some of those who cooperated with the MPD had apparently “sanitized” their lists. “The lists are still subject to validation. We will find out if they put a name there just because that person is their enemy,” the official said.
The MPD earlier told the local officials that if they won’t help this way in the antidrug campaign, “(we) may include them in the list of drug protectors and drug coddlers.”
“We will investigate why they aren’t giving (the lists), because we wonder why elected officials like them are still having second thoughts about it.”
Pedrozo spoke about the campaign on the sidelines of the oath-taking ceremony of reelected Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, who also warned that uncooperative local officials “will either be removed from their post or be charged.”