THE Marcos administration is all praises for its anti-narcotics operatives, particularly the lead agency Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, for coming up with the report that P1.37 billion worth of prohibited drugs had been seized during the last four months.
This achievement, the Palace said, was a direct result of the Marcos administration’s three-point drug war approach: mapping and prevention, cure, and enforcement.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in line with President Marcos Jr.’s directive to eradicate illegal drugs, the PDEA “has reported the confiscation of P1.37 billion worth of illegal substances in various operations from November 2022 to February 2023.”
Based on a report submitted to Malacañang, Garafil said, operatives of the PDEA, under Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo, launched 405 operations that resulted in the arrest of 728 drug personalities during that period.
‘For the government to assess the current status of drugs in the country, the PDEA should be able to ascertain the volume of recycled drugs in the “secondary market,” or those first reported seized but later filched and sold again, this time by corrupt and unscrupulous lawmen.’
She said confiscated during the operations were 177.21 kilos of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride; 200.22 kilos of dried leaves and bricks of marijuana; 565,160 pieces of marijuana plants; 1,687 grams of cocaine; and 16,782 tablets of Ecstasy.
During the same period, PDEA also reported that 115 high-impact operations were launched, which dismantled 79 drug dens and eradicated 12 marijuana plantations and resulted in 24 huge seizures. These operations resulted in the arrest of 548 high-value targets (HVTs), which is vital in disrupting the proliferation of dangerous drugs in the country, the PDEA noted.
Among the apprehended suspects were four elected officials, 15 government employees, nine foreigners, 42 target-listed personalities, and 102 drug den operators, and one of the uniformed personnel.
However good these figures look on paper, the fact remains that this report does not convey the full lay of the land in the fight against drugs. As of today, the Senate still holds two police officers in detention, for lying and not cooperating in its probe about drugs recycling. The two officers, whom Sen. Ronald dela Rosa called “ninja cops,” were earlier caught by security cameras outside Camp Crame while stealing part of confiscated drugs from themselves.
Then, there’s also the information shared by Rep. Robert Ace Barbers that informants in anti-drugs busts are given not cash but part of the confiscated drugs as compensation, further abetting the growth of the drugs trade.
For the government to assess the current status of drugs in the country, the PDEA should be able to ascertain the volume of recycled drugs in the “secondary market,” or those first reported seized but later filched and sold again, this time by corrupt and unscrupulous lawmen.
Because many agencies are involved in the drugs war — the PDEA, the Department of Justice, local government units, NBI, Philippine National Police, the prosecution service, the judiciary and even the military — it is all the more hard for PDEA to see and report the true picture.m
