PDEA aims to finish validation of politicians in ‘narcolist’ ahead of 2022 polls

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is working to accomplish its verification of the “narcolist” that includes names of politicians supposedly involved in the business of illegal drugs so it would not be an issue in the 2022 elections.

“We are working on regional adjudication system, kaming lahat ng intelligence committee down to regional level, para mag-adjudicate sila nung lahat ng persons na nakalagay sa listahan so that even before elections, ma-validate silang lahat at hindi na maging issue sa elections,” PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva said Friday during its Real Numbers PH press conference in Quezon City.

(We are working on a regional adjudication system, our intelligence committee down to the regional level so that we can adjudicate all of these persons in the list so that even before elections, we will validate them all and it would not be an issue in the elections.)

Villanueva’s statement was in response to a reporter’s query about PDEA’s monitoring of politicians in the “narcolist” of law enforcers before the 2022 polls.

The PDEA chief asserted there are still many elected officials involved in the drug trade but did not give a specific count.

In May 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte made public the names of 46 politicians whom he said are engaged in the illegal drug trade.