3 drug dealers monitored for supporting candidates

At least three suspected big time drug traffickers in Central Visayas are being monitored by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for possibly supporting candidates in the May elections.

PDEA regional director Amado Marquez said the suspected drug personalities are friends of some politicians and incumbent officials in Central Visayas, including Cebu.

Marquez said these suspected drug dealers, whose names he refused to reveal, would likely finance the candidacy of some local officials to gain influence as soon as their candidates win.

He also said that they received unconfirmed information that the three had also supported candidates in the previous elections.

Marquez said they are closely monitoring the activities of these suspected drug personalities and the would-be candidates close to them. He warned that those candidates found receiving drug money would be charged.

The PDEA official, however, lauded Cebu City and provincial officials for being supportive in their anti-drug campaign. He clarified that none of the city and provincial officials are close to these drug personalities.

Cebu City Councilor Augustus "Jun" Pe, chairman of the City Council committee on dangerous drugs, assured that narco-politics has not reached the city, saying that he does not believe that drug pushers will support local candidates in the elections.

He, however, said what is possible is that drug pushers will be spending money to campaign against candidates who are active in the campaign against illegal drugs like him.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia wanted the PDEA to bare the names of politicians who are involved in narco-politics.

In a news conference yesterday, Garcia said she is certain that narco-politics will once again "rear its evil head" with the onset of the election period.

"I would expect the politicians that involved in such kind of heinous activities to be exposed. They must be exposed aron atong mailhan, aron mahibaw-an nga dili tanan politicians involved," she said.

Nevertheless, the governor said she has not received any information on any Cebuano politician engaged in such illegal activity. - Fred P. Languido and Cristina C. Birondo