PDEA stays mum on narcopolitcs

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Monday stressed that it would not reveal the names of politicians involved in illegal drugs, saying that the agency’s operations could become compromised.

In a statement, PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago said that revealing the names of narco-politicans would “burn” their operations.

“We do not go about publicizing our ‘watchlist’ because this is considered as intelligence material. So what our operating units do is build-up cases, conduct operations against target personnel…and deliver,” Santiago said.

Santiago’s statement came with the arrest of Surigao del Norte gubernatorial candidate Ruperto Deguino for illegal drugs late March.

Deguino was the sixth political candidate arrested for illegal drugs since the second half of 2009, Santiago said.

“We were challenged to name names and we were questioned when we declined to do so. But we gave them something better than mere names: we caught these political figures red-handed,” Santiago added. (inquirer.net)

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