The Department of Interior and Local Government said yesterday that the names of narco-politicians in the May 2019 mid-term elections will only be released if its accuracy has been verified and validated fully by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
PDEA Assistant Secretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said releasing the names of politicians in the narco-list will depend on what comes out in the “talk between DILG Secretary Eduardo Año and PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino.”
The DILG has reiterated and recognized the release of the narco-politician list is within the authority of the PDEA Director-General.
At present, Malaya said the DILG is still on the midst of reviewing, clearing, and spending long hours in examining the names of those included in the illegal drug list roster.
Año had earlier expressed support to the public release of the narco-list to allow the electorate to cast their ballots wisely and prevent them from erroneously voting for political candidates with illegal drug links.
Expecting howls of protests from politicians, Año, however, assured the list will undergo thorough and stringent validation first before being publicly public released.
He explained that strict validation is essential to avoid the inclusion of righteous politicians from being included the narco-list and to prevent those who are either dead or not in power anymore from being put in the roster.
Año did not say when the list will be released, only assuring that it will certainly come out and said at present around 60 mayors are included in the roster of politicians involved in illegal drugs. (Chito Chavez)