The chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on dangerous drugs on Friday urged candidates in the May 14, 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to undergo voluntary drug test and submit the results to the Commission on Elections for documentation and publication.
Rep. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, the panel’s chairperson, said he would write a letter-request to the Comelec to set a timeline for the conduct of the voluntary drug testing and submission of the results.
At the same time, Barbers said he would ask the Department of the Interior and Local Government to request the village poll aspirants to sign covenants or documents that they are against illegal drugs and that their candidacy is not supported in any way by any drug personality in their bid.
“The village poll aspirants may submit to a voluntary drug test at any Department of Health-accredited drug testing facility and submit themselves to a certain timeline before the Comelec,” Barbers said.
“The DILG, for its part, can ask all the aspirants to sign covenants to be displayed in, their respective barangay offices indicating they condemn illegal drugs, and are not being supported by any drug personality,” he added.
Those who will reject or refuse to undergo the voluntary drug testing, Barbers said “they would all be subject to suspicions for alleged involvement in illegal drugs.”
Barbers stressed that the barangay is considered the smallest administrative unit, and the battle against drug abuse and trafficking should start at the grassroots level.
Barbers said President Rodrigo Duterte has twice called for the postponement of the Barangay elections—Oct. 31, 2016 and Oct. 23, 2017— for the reason that 40 percent of villages had been infected by the rampant drugs trade.
“The President is also aware that a number of barangay officials are involved in illegal drug activities or are into substance abuse themselves,” he said.
As this developed, Malacañang urged the public not to vote politicians who are involved in the narcotics trade in the coming barangay and SK elections.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Friday also defended Rodrigo Duterte’s order to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) to release the list of barangay officials with links to the illegal drug trade.
“Inorder na po ng Presidente ang paglabas ng listahan—ano naman ‘no, nang makonsidera ng mga botante pagpunta nila sa kaniya-kaniyang mga presinto ‘no itong darating na Mayo. Huwag po nating ihalal iyong mga may koneksyon sa droga,” Roque said in a radio interview.
The PDEA earlier said it would release the names of alleged “narco-politicians” at the barangay level ahead of the village polls this May.
According to PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino, there are over 200 barangay officials who were included in the President’s so-called “narco-list.”
PDEA’s plan, however, immediately drew criticism from opposition politicians and human rights groups.
The Commission on Human Rights said releasing the names of barangay officials allegedly with drug links will be a violation their right to due process and right to be presumed innocent.
“Rule of law dictates that filing a case in the court is the proper way to apprehend and exact accountability from erring public officials,” the CHR said in a statement.
“Making public accusations without due process subjects those concerned to undue shame, violates their right to fair trial, erodes their dignity, and results to suffering of their families,” it added.
Even the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which closely monitors developments in the President’s drug war, said the lives of barangay officials might be put in danger if the PDEA pushes through with its plan.
Human Rights Watch Asia Division researcher Carlos Conde said the government should instead file charges against these officials if it has evidence that they have links to illegal drugs.
He described the narco list as a “virtual hit list…that violates due process and is an affront to the rule of law.”
“Far too many cases of those people who end up on lists of suspected drug personalities have ended up as victims of summary executions, as we’ve seen in Duterte’s ‘drug war’ in the past 21 months,” Conde said.
“Releasing the hit list of these barangay officials ahead of the election next month—without solid proof or evidence, as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency itself admitted—is almost certain to worsen the bloodshed.”
But Roque insisted that releasing the names of those in the narco-list is a “judgment call of the President.”
“That’s within the powers of the executive to warn the public on the possible drug personalities who may be elected into public office. So that’s a judgment call of the President. They could object and object but the voters are entitled to this information,” Roque said.
He addedthat the release of the names in the narco-list will only serve as confirmation to rumors circulating in various barangays about the alleged ties of local officials to the narcotics trade.
“Alam mo, barangay election ito. Alam naman ng mga barangay kung sino talaga ang nasa droga. Kung ang pangalan mo ay nariyan, kumpirmasyon na lang iyan. So hayaan natin iyong mga nasa barangay dahil kilala talaga nila iyong mga kapitbahay nila magsabi kung tama o mali iyong listahan na iyan,” he said.