By Jennifer P. Rendon
Reports of Western Visayas having the most number of barangays officials in the country’s drug watchlist surprised even the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6.
But it appeared that the data was taken from records way back in 2016 when the PNP kicked off its Oplan Tokhang or the campaign of the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte to convince alleged drug peddlers to surrender and reform.
Brigadier General Sidney Villaflor, Western Visayas police chief, said the barangay officials on the list were either arrested or surrendered in the past administration.
That list became the basis for PNP chief General Benjamin Acorda’s revelation that Western Visayas has the highest number of barangay officials with links to the illegal drug trade.
But Villaflor said they already rectified and corrected the list to avoid possible misinterpretation.
Still, the region’s top cop said that barangay officials who previously surrendered will be monitored if they either underwent rehabilitation or still have a connection to the illegal drug trade.
Meanwhile, Major Mary Grace Borio, PRO-6 spokesperson, said that they have yet to come up with an updated watchlist.
“We were also surprised about the number. We already coordinated with Camp Crame about it,” she said.
It appeared that even the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) might have no updated list of village officials with illegal drug links, as it also asked PRO-6 about the list.
It can be noted that there are 430 barangay officials who are on the PNP’s watchlist of illegal drug personalities.
The 76 officials from Western Visayas included both high-value and street-level individuals.
Twenty of the 76 drug-linked officials are punong barangays (barangay captains) while 56 are barangay kagawad (village councilmen).
Of the 20 barangay captains, five are from Negros Occidental while Iloilo and Antique province have four each; Aklan and Capiz with 3 each; and Iloilo City with one.
For barangay kagawads, Capiz has the most number with 17; Iloilo province with 11; Negros Occidental with 10; Aklan and Antique with 8 each; and Bacolod City and Iloilo City with one each.
