DILG clears Northern Samar lawmaker, gov of ties in illegal drugs trade
The Department of the Interior and Local Government in the Eastern Visayas region (Region 8) on Tuesday has cleared two local politicians accused by the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas of involvement in illegal drugs trade.
In a statement, Pedro Noval Jr., DILG Region 8 director, said based on field intelligence reports that reached him, both Northern Samar 2nd District Rep. Edwin Ong and Northern Samar Governor Jose Ong have clean records in relation to illegal drugs.
He said as soon as news reports said that the Ongs were allegedly into illegal drugs, he immediately ordered the DILG provincial director of Northern Samar to find out the truth and submit a report to him.
“Based sa reports, I have not heard anything about it that they (Ongs) are linked to illegal drugs. It is just a political issue because during the (last) election, yung (isang) kandidato against Gov. Ong is from the group of the NDF and NPA (New People’s Army), isang pari,” Noval said.
Earlier, the Northern Samar Police Provincial Office (NSPPO) echoed Noval’s declaration as it certified that the Ong’s are not included in its “drug watchlist” contrary to what the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas alleged.
“Based on our records, we found the allegation against our local politician(s) to be baseless, on the ground that Congressman Edwin Ong and Governor Jose L Ong were not included in our drug personalities watch list,” Senior Supt. Daniel Mayoni, the acting provincial director of NSPPO, said in a statement.
On its website, the NDF-Eastern Visayas last week accused Edwin Ong of being the “biggest drug lord” in Northern Samar who is reportedly enjoying the support of Gov. Jose Ong in the illegal drugs trade.
The statement issued by the NDF- Eastern Visayas on its website and distributed to media outlets in the Eastern Visayas region was made apparently in response to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte for the communist group to help him in his anti-illegal drug campaign. TVJ
