Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said yesterday he will personally lead the fact-finding investigation against 10 prosecutors in the narco list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
“Once identified and there’s scintilla of evidence, I myself will lead the investigation against them. That (involvement of prosecutors in illegal drug trade) is just unacceptable,” he said.
Last week, PDEA said its narco list includes 10 prosecutors and 13 judges. However, PDEA Director General AaronAquino did not release their names pending verification and further validation.
Guevarra said his office will coordinate with PDEA for the conduct of parallel investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation, the DoJ’s law enforcement agency.
He pointed out that the administration of President Duterte implements a zero tolerance policy when it comes to involvement of government officials in illegal drugs, particularly in the DoJ which is tasked to prosecute drug suspects.
“PDEA and DoJ can do parallel investigations if PDEA is willing to share its initial intelligence information with us at this time,” he stressed.
At this time, he added, the priority is the validation effort on the case build-up against the 46 politicians named by the President. (Rey Panaligan)