COTABATO CITY – Anti-narcotics agents in Maguindanao and Cotabato City are closely watching seven village heads and six councilmen for alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade.
Juvenal Azurin, regional director of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM), did not identify the elected officials but said two of them have previously been arrested and eventually charged.
He said the village heads failed to put up Barangay Anti-Drug Advisory Council (BADAC), which is required of them under a circular issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“The village chairperson is the automatic BADAC chair so if they did not organize this, there must be something wrong,” Azurin said.
Azurin appealed to village chairpersons to help PDEA and the government rid their communities of illegal drugs and personalities involved in it.
“We all know how illegal drugs destroy a person, a family and a community, together let’s fight this social menace,” he urged local officials of Cotabato City and Maguindanao. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
