WITH over a month before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections scheduled for May 14, Manila Mayor Joseph E. Estrada exhorted city voters to use their rights of suffrage as an opportunity to get rid of local officials engaged in graft and corruption, as well as illegal-drug trade.
“I am also asking that we support President Duterte in his campaign against criminality and corruption,” he said during the recent Congress of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines hosted by the local government of Manila.
The former president emphasized the need to address these perennial problems, while pointing out that the multibillion-peso drug industry must be destroyed at all costs.
“This is the reason I am appealing to all to vote for candidates actively fighting the war against corruption and illegal drugs at the barangay levels,” he noted.
Estrada urged the public to back up the government in solving the illegal trade of drugs nationwide.
He also called on voters to reject incumbent barangay officials seeking reelection who are “lazy and have done nothing to improve the living conditions of their constituents.”
“Local voters should not patronize candidates without concrete platforms, he said.
Earlier, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) appealed to the voting public to turn down 143 village chiefs and 146 village councilors involved in the narcotics trade.
PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino said the government has already come up with a list of barangay officials linked to drug syndicates.
In an interview, Aquino said it is Duterte’s prerogative not to name them. If the President wishes to publicly identify narco-politicians, he noted, the PDEA will provide the list to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Agreeing with this move, Estrada said: “It surely will help the voters to decide on who they will vote for and it’s also good to know those benefiting from corruption and illegal-drug trade.”
Estrada has been vocal about Manila’s support to the national government’s fight against illegal drugs and in weeding out corrupt state officials and employees.
“If we clean our communities from barangay officials who are tricky and good at black propaganda, and totally crack down on the narco trade and corrupt people in the government, I believe our country will become truly progressive and the peoples’ lives will further improve,” Estrada said.