11 actresses on drug watch list — PDEA chief

MANILA, Philippines — Eleven actresses are included in the list of celebrities with suspected links to illegal drugs, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Aaron Aquino disclosed yesterday.

Aquino told ANC that the actresses are among 31 celebrities reportedly linked to illegal drugs.

Aquino said a majority of the celebrities are in their 20s and 30s, most of them still active in the entertainment industry.

“Tatlo lang yata yung matanda dyan (only three are old). All of them are young,” he said.

Two have been identified as drug pushers, selling shabu and party drugs such as ecstasy to users.

Aquino declined to identify the celebrities, saying the PDEA is still validating the reports linking them to drugs.

He  said more celebrities could be involved, adding the list does not include others on the radar of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and other government agencies.

Aquino said there could be more than 100 celebrities in the combined list of the police and the military but they have no validation.

The PDEA will not release the names of the 31 celebrities now being probed for alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

However, the identities of the show biz personalities being investigated will eventually be exposed when they are arrested and charged in court.

“They may be public figures since they are being looked up to, but the fact is our intention is to just arrest them. They are not in the same category as a public officer,” PDEA spokesman Director Derrick Arnold Carreon told reporters at a press briefing yesterday. 

He explained that celebrities or entertainers are not like so-called narco politicians whose names were released by President Duterte himself.

He noted that alleged narco politicians are seeking public office and are courting the people for votes, which means that their being in the drug list “is imbued with public interest.”

“Of course yes, a celebrity may be a public figure but they are not seeking public office,” he said, emphasizing though that because showbiz personalities are idolized and seen on television daily, those involved in illegal drugs should be caught and it would be then that the public will know who they are.

Carreon said the drug list for celebrities supposedly containing some 31 names is being validated and is bound to change, though he cannot reveal more as he himself and even those with ranks higher than him cannot just see or access the list as intelligence materials are on a need to know basis.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to investigate the alleged involvement of several prosecutors in the illegal drug trade in the country.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he plans to personally lead the fact-finding investigation against 10 prosecutors included in so-called narco list of PDEA.

“Once identified and there’s a scintilla of evidence, I myself will lead the investigation against them. That (involvement of prosecutors in illegal drug trade) is just unacceptable,” he told The STAR yesterday.

Guevarra said his office would coordinate with PDEA’s Aquino for the conduct of a parallel investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation, the fact-finding and law enforcement arm of the DOJ.

The PDEA revealed last week that its narco list includes 10 prosecutors and 13 judges, but did not release their names pending verification and further validation of their alleged involvement in drug trade.

Aquino aired frustration that their efforts are wasted with the dismissal of cases they have filed. – With Michael Punongbayan, Edu Punay