Two senatorial candidates under the administration party are divided in their stand on the narco-list issue.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Parada Dabawenyo on Saturday, senatorial candidates JV Ejercito and Ronald dela Rosa were not standing on the same ground on the list released by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Ejercito said the concerned agencies responsible for the release of the narcolist should have verified the information several times before handing it to the President.
Putting emphasis on the responsibility of the agencies involved, Ejercito said he can attest that someone in the list is not involved in illegal drugs.
“I know someone on that list – the Mayor of San Pablo, Laguna who is also our colleague in the JCI (Junior Chamber International), Mayor Loreto “Ambin” S. Amante,” the re-electionist senator said.
“I know him as a well-bred and a kind person,” Ejercito said.
He said Amante could have been implicated in the drug trade because of his uncle, a political opponent, who was involved in drugs but was already killed.
“Probably, his name was just linked to his uncle’s,” he added.
Ejercito said that the list may affect the political career and candidacy of those who are running.
“I am hoping that the agencies really issue names based on evidence because innocent ones may be affected,” he said.
On the other hand, dela Rosa expressed confident on the agencies that released the list.
“On my part, anything that comes from the PNP (Philippine National Police) has been really validated. Even those from other agencies, these names are really well validated because we spend amounts of money on this,” said dela Rosa, a former PNP director general.
“We have our intelligence fund so the intelligence community really validated this. Other than the PNP, we have the AFP, the PDEA, and the NBI. The list was consolidated in Malacañan by the DILG so it means that there has really been a process of the validation,” dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa contested claims that names in the list are fictitious, insisting that “these are real person – real mayors congressmen and other politicians with some even running for the midterm elections.”
