Ni Martin A. Sadongdong
Ipinahayag kahapon ng Philippine National Police (PNP) na mahigit 90,000 kandidato para sa Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections 2018 ang iprinoklama sa buong bansa, ngunit nakatakdang imbestigahan ang mga nasa drugs watch list.
Sa press briefing sa National Election Monitoring and Action Center (NEMAC) sa Camp Crame, sinabi ni PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde na magsasagawa sila ng case build-up kung mayroon sa 92,756 na nagwagi na nasa drug list.
“We will check this one by one if they have involvement in any illegal drug activities,” sabi ni Albayalde.
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Habang isinusulat ito, ipinag-utos na ng PNP chief sa Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) at sa regional drug enforcement units na siyasatin ang pagkatao ng mga nagwaging kandidato at alamin kung nasa watch list.
Sa oras na makumpirma, sinabi ni Albayalde na magsasagawa sila ng case build-up laban sa mga ito.
“If needed, we can always conduct a ‘Tokhang’ (knock and plead) operation. They are not entitled to some kind of protection even if they win in the elections,” paliwanag niya.
“If they want to surrender as early as now, better. But like what I’ve said, they can always subject themselves for adjudication. If they don’t, then we can always conduct an operation,” dagdag ni Albayalde.
Aniya, makikipagtulungan ang PNP sa Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILH) at National Youth Commission (NYC) sa pagba-validate.
“Our intelligence gathering will play a vital role because the PDEA cannot do it alone. They rely so much to us in terms of evidence and intelligence gathering,” pahayag ni Albayalde.
Gayunman, sinabi ni Albayalde na hindi na nila isasama ang Comelec dahil “tapos na” ang partisipasyon nito nang iproklama ang nagwaging mga kandidato.
