The Philippine National Police has been closely monitoring celebrities included in its drugs watch list which has been submitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
“I think our own list has already been submitted to the PDEA since they are the repository of all data. Since the drug war began under the Duterte administration, we already have a list and we’ve shared it to the PDEA which consolidates all of the information,” said Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief.
However, Albayalde said law enforcers need to get “hard evidence” of the celebrities’ alleged illegal activities since their inclusion in the watch list “is not enough” to warrant a case filing.
“Well, that’s just a watch list. It cannot be considered an evidence. We have to get hard evidence of they really are involved. That’s the only time that we can file a case,” Albayalde stressed.
“We can only use that list as a reference when we conduct surveillance and case buildup. After that we can apply for a search warrant,” he added.
The PNP chief refused to disclose how many celebrities are included in their watch list, their age bracket, and how often they are seen on the television or movies.
However, he said that as early as mid-2016 when he was still National Capital Region Police office director, around 50 celebrities have been included in their list.
He hinted that the number may have grown more than two years into the drug war.
Albayalde admitted that “some” celebrities who are included in the police watch list have became the subject of police operations and were arrested. (Martin Sadongdong)