Pagadian City officials say PNP should update list of drug personalities submitted to PRRD

(From left to right, VM Mondarte, Mayor Pulmones, and Mayor Relacion)

PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Aug. 8 (PNA) – Local government officials said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should update and verify the list of drug personalities submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Mayor Romeo Pulmones and Vice Mayor Ernesto Mondarte issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday named David Navarro, mayor of this city, as among the drug protectors and persons involved in illegal drugs in this province.

Pulmones said Navarro was the incumbent mayor of Clarin, Misamis Occidental and did not serve as mayor although he was a resident of this city.

Pulmones said Navarro and his family have transferred to Clarin, Misamis Occidental, after the provincial government led by then Gov. Aurora Cerilles launched in 2009 an all-out anti-drugs campaign.

Cerilles was supported in the anti-drugs campaign by her husband, Antonio, who was then the second district congressman in the anti-drugs campaign. Antonio is now the governor while his wife is the congresswoman in the second district.

Mondarte said the information needed to be updated as some names of people involved in the illegal drug trade in this province were not included in the list the President released on Sunday.

Mayor Eduardo Relacion of the nearby town of Labangan joined Pulmones and Mondarte in expressing support to the President’s relentless anti-drugs campaign.

Relacion said former Labangan Mayor Abubakar Abdulkarim Afdal has left the town in 2010. Afdal’s name is included in the list the President released on Sunday.

Relecion said that Afdal, like Navarro, has left this province due to the relentless anti-drug campaign the provincial government launched in 2009. (PNA)
RMA/TPGJR/HIROHITO D. CADION