PDEA targets 23 drug syndicates

At least 23 big-time drug trafficking syndicates top the list of the newly formed Phi-lippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)’s targets in the government’s reinvigorated campaign against illegal drugs, an official said yesterday.

Efren Fernandez, PDEA deputy director general, refused to identify the groups but said the syndicates are mostly headed by Chinese nationals masquerading as businessmen.

After taking his oath of office at Malacañang yesterday, PDEA Director General Anselmo Avenido met with key officials of the government’s various anti-narcotics units at Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Quezon City, to map out a strategy.

He required them to study the new law that created the PDEA, which is patterned after the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

"The law itself has practically covered all aspects," Avenido said. "We cannot become law enforcers unless we know and understand the law."

He stressed that their goal was to "enforce the law without fear or favor," and urged them to do their jobs professionally.

As the country’s lead agency combating the illegal drug trade, the PDEA assumed the functions of the government’s various anti-narcotics units, all abolished by the law such as the PNP Narcotics Group, the National Drug Law Enforcement and Prevention Coordinating Council (NDLEPCC), the Bureau of Customs’ Narcotics Interdiction Office and the National Bureau of Investigation’s narcotics unit.

Under the new setup, the Dangerous Drugs Board will serve as the country’s policy-making body with the PDEA as its implementing arm.

Miguel Coronel, the chief of the defunct NDLEPCC, was appointed yesterday by the President as the new executive director of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Since the PDEA is not yet fully operational, Fernandez said they will initially rely on agents of the PNP Narcotics Group.

"The PNP Narcotics Group has 800 men and we will be relying on them along with those from the NBI, the Bureau of Customs and the NDLEPCC," he said.

Fernandez estimated that the PDEA, which moved to the former offices of the NDLEPCC at Camp Crame, will be fully operational in 18 months.

The law that created the PDEA, Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, was signed into law on June 7 and took effect July 4.

In her recent State of the Nation Address, President Arroyo declared terrorists and criminals – particularly kidnappers and illegal drug dealers – as "enemies of the State" that were threatening national security.

Mrs. Arroyo vowed to build a "strong Republic by breaking the back of terrorism and criminality," saying lawlessness was undermining the nation’s security and economic recovery.

The Philippines has suffered from an image of being unsafe to tourists and investors due to a rash of kidnapping-for-ransom cases and drug-related crimes. Less than two million tourists visit the country each year.

In many instances, the police are perceived as being protectors of crime gangs.

Illegal drug use is one of the leading causes of several kinds of crime such as rape, robbery and burglary, authorities said.

To curb the illegal drug trade, drug dealing was declared a heinous crime punishable by death when capital punishment was restored in 1994.

To add more teeth to the government’s war against illegal drugs, the new anti-illegal drug law mandated that drug dealers selling 50 grams or more – the previous limit was 200 grams – would be meted the death penalty.

In an attempt to instill police discipline and curb the country’s crime problem, the Arroyo administration cracked the whip in July and adopted a policy of "command responsibility."

Under the policy, police commanders would be sacked for their men’s poor performance.

In late June, seven senior police chiefs were sacked for their reported failure to curb jueteng, an illegal lottery popular nationwide.

Following the sacking, Mrs. Arroyo said the command responsibility policy would be applied "more strictly on the more challenging issues of kidnapping and drugs."

She gave the chief of the nation’s police force, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, one year to rein in the rash of kidnappings-for-ransom in the country which seemed to have become a cottage industry.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government will use military style tactics in going after crime gangs.