PDEA confirms existence of narco-politics in WV
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) VI earlier projected the possibility that illicit drug-related activities could be a source of election campaign.
And the threat that narco-politics has crept in Western Visayas seemed to have turned into a reality.
“There is indeed an existence of narco-politics in Region VI but we could not say it’s prevalent,” said PDEA-6 regional director Paul Ledesma.
By narco-politics, Ledesma explained that people in the narcotics trade are influencing politics – directly or indirectly. They could be directly participating in the political exercise or just finance or provide protection to politicians.
“Syndicates could support candidates to gain favor or influence and they could also field their own candidates in pursuit of narco-politics,” he added.
Based on PDEA monitoring, there are 12 candidates in Western Visayas who are known to have links with drug personalities. Iloilo City and Iloilo province have three each; Roxas City and Bacolod City have two each; and Antique and Negros Occidental have one each.
Most of these candidates stood as legal counsels for well-known drug personalities, Ledesma stated.
“Our concern now is to further identify these candidates and how they are going to be supported or financed by these drug personalities,” he added.
Further, “we seldom encounter problems of bribery of drug operatives. So, we think that drug personalities have also shifted their strategy to something political like infiltrating the policy-making body or legislative branch of the government,” Ledesma said.
The PDEA-6 regional chief said that the issue is very crucial because the voters might be electing people who have power to enact laws that would be prejudicial to the government’s anti-drugs campaign.
APOLITICAL
Despite this concern on narco-politics, PDEA-6 vowed to remain apolitical.
Ledesma stressed that they would not go out of their way to campaign against these candidates.
“Basically, we just want to know who they are so that we could make some counter measures,” he added.
The PDEA-6 chief said that the electorate must be also be aware who are these people.
“I hope that our voters would be intelligent enough to know who are the people worthy of their trust,” Ledesma said.
