The Philippine National Police (PNP) is distancing itself from the move of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to release the list of barangay (village) officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs.
While it was a collective decision, PNP chief Dir. Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde said on Monday that it was purely the DILG and PDEA’s decision to release the so-called “narco list.” The PNP leadership, however, noted that making the list public was made upon the order of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I’m sure it (was) a collective decision. Hindi naman kami kumontra doon sa paglabas, binigay namin totally ‘yung decision sa [DILG at PDEA] because wala kaming… hindi kami pwede mag decide do’n,” Albayalde said in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
(We did not oppose the release of the list, we have given the sole decision to the DILG and PDEA because we…we cannot decide on it.)
“’Yung paglabas [The release] was done totally by the PDEA and DILG,” he added.
Albayalde made the remark in response to Senator Panfilo Lacson, who said that publicizing the narco list is “dumb and cruel” because it preempts the gathering of evidence that can be used against those in the list.
Lacson further said that releasing the list could be malicious because it was merely based on intelligence reports, which could not be validated unless charges against those in the list are filed in court.
The senator also warned the agencies that they can be charged with libel for releasing the list.
READ: Lacson on PDEA’s narco-list: ‘Dumb and Cruel’
On April 30, the DILG and PDEA released the names of 207 barangay officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs – 90 of which were barangay chairpersons while 117 were kagawads (councilors) – despite warnings from human rights groups that the move violates due process.
PDEA Dir. Gen. Aaron Aquino nevertheless had stressed that no less than President Duterte ordered the release of the list, even if he also admitted that case build-up has yet to be done against those in the list.
Albayalde explained that PNP’s list of individuals involved in illegal drugs includes uniformed personnel and civilians, and not elected officials, based on the PNP’s counter-intelligence efforts.
The PNP leadership backs the release of the list but also said that those who were named must be given due process.
“While we support the release of the list, we should also give at least due process to these people. And ‘yung validation, I am sure there is a validation that was conducted on the ground before they sent out the list,” Albayalde said. /kga