THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confirmed the alleged involvement of least 60 mayors, a number of congressmen and vice governors, as the agency bared on Tuesday the contents of its second narco list.
The mayors, at least six congressmen and the vice governors were among the list of 93 government officials involved in the illegal-drugs trade, according to PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino, who gave a preview of the contents of the new list.
Aquino, however, did not disclose the names of the government officials pending the approval of President Duterte.
“In the 93 listed, more than half of them are mayors, which are about 60- plus of them. There’s a few vice mayors, congressmen and few vice governors,” Aquino said during a news briefing.
The PDEA director general said some of the officials are from Calabarzon, northern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The new list followed the release more than a month ago of the names of at least 200 barangay officials who were reportedly involved in the illegal-drugs trade.
Meanwhile, PDEA operatives seized P74 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, during a controlled delivery operation in Parañaque and Bacoor cities.
Aquino said separate operations also resulted in the arrest of Dolores Lintag, 51; Melchor Corocoto, 29; Daniel de la Cruz, 21, and William de la Pizza.
The operations were made following information received by the PDEA-Regional Office 3 from the Bureau of Customs regarding the suspicious packages from Clark Freeport Zone.
“The report was immediately acted upon and the packages were subjected for inspection. The team took samples for laboratory examination, which gave positive result for methamphetamine hydrochloride,” Aquino said.
Prior to the interception, PDEA personnel conducted a two-day surveillance against the shipments, with agents going to Paraňaque City and Cavite.
Confiscated during the operation in Parañaque City was one box declared to be containing grill pans and stool bars, but was found containing suspected shabu, weighing more or less 6.5 kilograms, with an estimated street value of P44,200,000.