PhilStar: Barangay drug dealers
If the government has evidence of the purported involvement of barangay officials in drug deals and other illegal activities, formal charges must be filed, arrests made and offenders prosecuted and sent to prison. This is the best way to purge the ranks of village officials who are using their positions to break the law.
President Duterte has another idea: to fire out all village officials, who are serving in a holdover capacity since the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections last October were postponed. The President wants to appoint replacements, who will be chosen from nominees to be submitted by civil society and Church representatives.
The President urged his congressional allies to study the proposal as he disclosed that about 40 percent of barangay captains nationwide were involved in the illegal drug trade. These officials, the President said, would simply use drug money to finance their reelection campaigns, and they could be elected. This, the President fears, would then entrench narco politics at the grassroots.
In a caucus, pro-administration senators concluded that the President’s proposal would require a constitutional amendment. Other quarters have expressed fears that the plan would lay the groundwork for a Duterte dictatorship starting at the grassroots. The Commission on Elections is simply awaiting the decision of the executive and Congress, but wants the final word by July.
Philippine National Police officials said they are still verifying the involvement of those 40 percent of barangay captains in the illegal drug trade. Since the President assumed power, his bloody war on drugs has claimed many barangay personnel including captains and council members. The PNP can simply continue purging barangay offices of misfits, this time through the less bloody “Double Barrel Reloaded.”
The country has tough drug laws that can put away traffickers and their coddlers for life. Barangay officials who are arrested and indicted for engaging in drug deals will no longer be able to regain their village positions. Replacing them en masse is of course simpler – but it’s easier said than done, as the President is finding out. He should simply instruct relevant agencies to prepare for the barangay and SK elections this year.
If he thinks the system is rotten and prone to abuse, he should urge his congressional allies to consider overhauling the barangay system, or even abolishing it in case Charter change pushes through.
