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[av_heading heading=’KAP DEFIES JED
Nava won’t let Mabilog ‘use’ him ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – A barangay captain refused to comply with Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s order to submit a list of drug personalities in his village.
Sumakwel Nava of Barangay Libertad, Lapuz district claimed he will not let Mabilog “use” him for his “personal interest.”
Mabilog required Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) to submit to the Iloilo City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ICADAC) the list and a report on their antidrug activities and programs by Sept. 15.
The mayor is the chairman of the ICADAC. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Iloilo City, the council’s secretariat, receives the “drug lists” and the reports.
Six barangays failed to meet the deadline. DILG-Iloilo City refused to name them.
Nava stopped short of admitting his barangay was one of them.
In a letter to DILG-Iloilo City head Ferdinand Panes dated Sept. 22, 2016, he insisted their BADAC already submitted their list and report to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 “as early as last year.”
“Lately, we, the barangay captains are again being ‘pressured’ to submit anew the same list because of the whims and caprices of…Mabilog who is desperately trying to impress [on] the president that he is not a ‘drug protector,’” Nava said.
On Aug. 7, President Rodrigo Duterte tagged Mabilog a “drug protector” — among other local officials, police officers and judges — when he read the mayor’s name from a list provided to him by the authorities.
Nava asked Panes if the latter “[agrees] with the pronouncement of President Duterte.”
“If you do, then it would be [absurd] and ridiculous for me to cooperate and comply with the directive of Mabilog,” said Nava.
“If you don’t agree and found the president’s statement false and baseless,” he further wrote Panes, “I will resubmit our report the soonest time possible.”
Nava stressed that their barangay is “strongly [supporting] the antidrug campaign” of the Duterte administration.
But “we should not be allowed to be used by Mabilog for his personal interest,” he wrote. “For as long as Mabilog is yet to be cleared, there is no cogent reason why should I be part of his stage show [sic].”
“In the meantime,” Nava said,“please coordinate with the PDEA for a copy our BADAC report.”
Councilor Plaridel Navasupports his father’s decision and agrees with his reasons.
“Kap Mack’s contention is logical and reasonable,” the councilor said on Facebook.
Barangay captains “should not be forced to join hand in hand with the ‘drug protector’…for obvious reasons,” he said.
Councilor Nava raised doubts on the lists and reports submitted by other barangays. He cited Monica in City Proper, Bakhaw in Mandurriao and Desamparados in Jaro.
“Have the barangay captains mentioned their close kin in their BADAC reports,” he asked.
Submitting reports to the mayor is not enough, said the councilor.
“It is also important that the contents of the report [are] truthful and accurate,” he said. “Otherwise, even when there is a report, if the same is a sham and for compliance only, the concerned barangay captain [is] administratively liable.”/PN
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