MANILA, Philippines — Congressman-elect Vicente Veloso of Leyte has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a writ of habeas data to take his name out of President Duterte’s so-called narco list of suspected drug traffickers. In a 15-page petition, the former Court of Appeals justice argued that his inclusion in Duterte’s narco list and being tagged as one of the “narco politicians” in the country is not validated. “All officers of PDEA, PNP, NICA and AFP categorically admitted that my name is not on their list of narco-politicians. For his part, PDEA director-general Aaron Aquino wrote Veloso last April 5 that the narco list originated from the Office of the President and only the President can exclude any individual from the list. “The successful, yet malicious and baseless, inclusion of my name in the March 14 list of narco politicians has emboldened my political enemies to commit various acts of harassment,” Veloso lamented.

Source: Philippine Star June 18, 2019 16:07 UTC