PRESIDENT Duterte has approved the nomination of outgoing Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Aaron Aquino as president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), days after he was appointed as member of the agency’s board of directors, Malacañang officials said Wednesday.
In a statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Aquino was appointed as member of the board on May 22. But in a message to reporters, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the former police general was named as head of CIAC.
Roque later clarified that the Office of the Executive Secretary had confirmed the appointment of Aquino as member of the CIAC board and that “Mr. Aquino’s nomination as the President/CEO of Clark International Airport Corporation has been approved by President Rodrigo Duterte and is now forwarded to the aforesaid corporation’s Board of Directors.”
Roque likewise confirmed Aquino will be replaced by PDEA regional director Wilkins Villanueva, who has already posted on his social media page a copy of his appointment paper as PDEA director general.
Roque emphasized that the removal of Aquino from PDEA was not because of loss of trust and confidence but because of his transfer to CIAC.
“We thank Mr. Aquino for his immense contribution to the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs,” he said.
Aquino, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sandiwa class of 1985, had served for eight years as a member of the Presidential Security Group during the presidencies of Fidel Ramos and the late Corazon Aquino and later served as member of the Police Regional Offices 4 (Calabarzon), 10 (Northern Mindanao) and 11 (Davao region).
He was the regional director of the Police Regional Office 3 (Central Luzon) until his retirement from the Philippine National Police in 2017.
Roque said Villanueva, whom he said is “no stranger to drug law enforcement,” was PDEA’s Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) director at the time of his promotion.
“He has been working with PDEA for many years before reaching the agency’s top position. We therefore believe DG Villanueva will lead PDEA and the fight against illegal drugs to greater heights with professionalism, passion and integrity,” he said.
Villanueva, a member of the PMA Class of 1988, had previously served as head of the Bureau of Customs’ Intelligence and Investigation Division and PDEA regional director for the National Capital Region.#
Villanueva vowed a “more massive” but “synchronized” operations against drug syndicates and drug lords with him at the helm of the anti-drug agency.
“It will be more massive, it will be massive and enhanced,” Villanueva said in a phone interview.
Villanueva said PDEA regional offices throughout the country will be focused on tracing and ending the source of drugs in the areas.
“If all regions are focused on the source of drugs, the spread of drugs will be stopped. It (operations) will be massive and it will be coupled with coordination with the Philippine National Police,” he said, adding he is due to meet with PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa “so we can have a unified, synchronized data on target personalities and other anti-drug related data so the focus of the PNP and PDEA will be the same and not separate.”
Villanueva said he plans to craft a protocol on the conduct of anti-drug operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic because he does not want PDEA agents to be infected with the virus during operations.
Villanueva is set to assume the top PDEA post on Monday. He had been involved in the anti-drug operations for about two decades, including his days with the now-defunct PNP Narcotics Group.
Told that his vow for a “more massive” operation against illegal drugs may be misconstrued by critics as more killings, Villanueva said they should see his record.
“I am not going to last this long in drug enforcement if I have a blemished record as far as implementation of the drug law enforcement is concerned… We are going to be professional, but massive, in handling of our operations against drug lords, drug syndicates,” he said.
“Lahat ng pinuntahan ko, walang patayan, except for the big time laboratory in Davao City. Nagkabarilan kami dun, nandun ako mismo sa loob (There was no killings in areas where I was assigned, except for the big time laboratory in Davao City where were figured in a firefight, I was there inside),” he said.
He was referring to a raid of a shabu laboratory in Davao City in January 2005 that led to the death of six Chinese drug lords who shot it out with the raiding team. Recovered at the scene were 76.8 kilos of shabu. — With Victor Reyes
