Philippine National Police submitted new, validated narco-list to Duterte.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he is now holding the new and validated list containing the names of officials and other individuals who are into illegal drug trade.
This was confirmed by Duterte before he flew to Japan on Tuesday afternoon.
During his departure speech at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Duterte used his fingers to emphasize to the Filipinos how thick the list is.
The said narco-list was submitted to the chief executive by Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa.
“Hindi ko malaman ngayon kung paano ko mahanapan ng solusyon,” he said.
During the election campaign, the president promised he would end the country’s drug problem within six months.
According to the president, there are about a thousand police officers involved in drugs, almost a thousand barangay captains, as well as mayors and national officials.
Duterte added he will consult the members of the Congress on how to deal with the problem.
“Kasi napakabigat ho ng problemang ito. At kung ako lang, sasabihin ko sa inyo, hindi ko kaya,” Duterte said. “Anong gawin ko dito, patayin ko lahat?”
The president earlier announced that he is extending the deadline on solving the problems on illegal drugs.
In August, Duterte released the first batch of names included in the narco list. The list included officials who had already died. After this, some officials on the list appeared before the Philippine National Police in the national headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City and in regional offices to deny the allegations.
Due to some lapses on the verification of reports, the president later admitted he meant to read out an old list.
“I think that somehow we were negligent in counterchecking during the first report,” Duterte said in September.
On the first week of October, Duterte was supposed to release the second batch of names but he entrust this to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.