BAGUIO CITY — Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan is advising Cordillerans not to vote for people involved in illegal drugs in the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
In the dialogue for peace held here on Wednesday, Domogan said voters must be wary not only of those on the “narco list” released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Monday, but also of those whom they know are either illegal drug users or pushers in their communities.
“In the villages, it’s impossible for residents not to know who among their neighbors are using or pushing illegal drugs. They will eventually find out,” Domogan said.
On the sidelines of the public meeting, Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) Regional Director Chief Superintendent Edward Carranza said intelligence officers on both the regional and provincial levels are now verifying the names on the narco list.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino bared the narco list on Monday, consisting of 207 barangay officials nationwide. Of this number, 34 were in the Cordillera Administrative Region–24 in Abra, six in Apayao, two in Baguio, one in Kalinga, and one in Ifugao.
Cordillera has the second highest number of names included on the narco list, next to the Bicol region.
Domogan, who heads both the Cordillera Regional Development Council and Regional Peace and Order Council, said the PDEA’s release of the names is beyond the local governments’ control.
The mayor said one of the two people from Baguio on the list had immediately came to him and expressed willingness to undergo investigation by law enforcers, although that person had been previously cleared of the offense.
“That person was already cleared in the past, but I advised him and he did execute an affidavit of his willingness to undergo whatever investigation will be done by the authorities to prove that he is neither a drug pusher nor a user,” Domogan said.
The mayor said he had also instructed the person to see the chief of the Baguio City Police Office and the PDEA for them to review the documents he had previously submitted and express his willingness to again submit himself to another investigation to prove his innocence. **PNA
