MANILA — Around 430 village officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs are now under monitoring by the Philippine National Police (PNP), its chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda said on Thursday (May 25).
Acorda said some of these barangay officials are included in the PNP’s list of high-value individuals and street-level Individuals in the war against drugs.
“They are subject to intelligence operations. We are hoping that this will be reduced in the coming days. Hopefully, those involved would eventually stop. If not, they will be subject to police operations,” Acorda told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Buhay ay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan in private sector workplaces in Quezon City.
Acorda said these barangay officials have varying involvement in illegal drugs where some are pushers, some are protectors and others are financiers.
“But based on our update, there are more or less 430 barangay officials (involved in the illegal drug trade), many of them are in Region VI (Western Visayas),” he added.
Acorda urged the public not to vote for candidates who are involved in illegal drugs.
“I want to take this opportunity to appeal to voters not to consider candidates, who have involvement in illegal drugs, to become our next set of barangay officials,” the country’s top cop stressed.
The barangay and SK elections are scheduled on Oct. 30 this year.
Source: PNA
