'Vietnam' drug dealers top Lim’s 'evaporate' list

Drug dealers in Manila’s notorious “Vietnam Village," where several residents had been summarily executed, now top new Manila mayor Alfredo Lim’s “cooperate or evaporate" list. Lim, a former policeman who earned a “Dirty Harry" reputation, said Sunday that residents engaged in the drug trade can either find new means of livelihood or leave the city. “Sinabi ko na, cooperate or evaporate. Kaya maghanap na sila ng hanapbuhay (I already told criminals to cooperate or evaporate. If they don’t want to evaporate, they better find honest jobs now)," he said in an interview on dzXL radio. He said that when he was mayor of the city, he already cleaned the Vietnam Village area of drug dealers and relocated the residents there to Bicutan. Lim said he was surprised that the Vietnam Village again became a magnet for drug dealers under the watch of Jose Atienza Jr. In past weeks, the Vietnam Village area in Manila’s Quiapo district landed in the news after residents discovered the bodies of two women chopped and stuffed into a plastic drum. Police operations in the area uncovered at least one more victim. “Nagulat ako nagbalikan na naman. Yan nahuli ng pulis, papatuloy natin ang kampanyang 'yan (I was surprised they made a comeback. But the police had made some arrests. So we’ll continue our campaign)," Lim said. Lim said the campaign will include spray-painting the houses of known drug pushers, as part of a shame campaign. “Ayaw tumigil sa pagbenta ng droga, pipinturahin natin ang bahay niyan. Effective na kampanya ito kasi kinagabihan nag-aalsabalutan (It was effective because after we painted the houses of suspected pushers in the morning, they packed up and left on the same night)," he said. - GMANews.TV