House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez III on Tuesday revealed that two congressmen were on the latest narco list of President Rodrigo Duterte, but he declined to name them.
Alvarez mentioned that there were lawmakers on the list only after he was asked if he has been furnished with it. The Speaker said he has had the list even before Christmas last year.
Alvarez said one of the congressmen was from Mindanao, without mentioning the province.
The Speaker said the list has already been validated by several agencies but he was still having it “double checked” as well through “friends all over the country.”
This was why, he said, he was “convinced” that one of the two congressmen on the list was a protector of the illegal drug trade.
Asked if he intends to talk to the congressmen and how he plans to deal with them, Alvarez said he was still thinking about it.
He was certain, however, that their being on the narco list was not “a ground to expel them. To me, I think it would be better for them to stop [the illegal activity].”
Ironically, the House of Representatives conducted a controversial congressional hearing where lawmakers focused on Senator Leila de Lima’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking in national penitentiary.
The illegal drug trade has been the focal point of President Duterte’s six-month old term, bringing it up in almost all his speeches regardless of the occasion.
It is the single reason for the move to revive the death penalty, which was abolished a decade ago, and the lowering of the age of criminal liability to nine years old.
READ: House to discuss if death penalty applicable to minors
Duterte has vowed to rid the country of drug users and pushers, giving imprimatur to state agents to kill any suspect who tries to resist arrest.
Over 6,000 drug suspects have been killed in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. CDG