PNP regional directors, LGUs to get drug watchlist

MANILA, Philippines – The thick “drug watch list” that President Duterte presented to provincial governors last week to show the extent of the drug menace would be handed over to regional directors of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for proper action, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno said over the weekend.

The list, containing names of local government executives, other officials and civilians suspected to be involved in the illegal drug trade, would also be given to governors and mayors, but only upon request and limited to those under their respective jurisdictions, Sueno said.

“The controversial list… will be handed over to the PNP regional directors, who are also RPOC vice-chairpersons. This is to avoid any conflict of interest and malice as RPOC chairpersons are also local government executives,” Sueno said at the Regional Peace and Order Council leaders’ meeting last Friday.       

The release of the watchlist to local police was done amid allegations that many policemen are taking advantage of the campaign to conduct tokhang-for-ransom – arresting drug personalities and detaining them until they cough up money for their release.

During the meeting, Sueno urged the local government heads and PNP regional directors to be firm in the fight against illegal drugs.   

Sueno stressed the list remains a “watchlist” amid ongoing investigations and intelligence work.   

Earlier, Duterte promised governors and mayors, in his separate meetings with them, that he would furnish copies of the watchlist to let them take their own courses of action to address the drug problem.

“If a mayor requests for a copy of the list, he would only obtain the names of alleged illegal drug personalities within his town or city. He will not be granted full access to the names of people outside his authority to maintain the confidentiality of the list,” Sueno explained.   

He also warned the mayors against leaking the list, as his department could easily trace its source.

Put up rehab centers, LGUs told

Local government units (LGUs) must put up rehabilitation centers to accommodate those who surrender under the government’s intense drive against illegal drugs, a lawmaker said.

“As a former governor who has had to deal with drug-related crimes, I witnessed how illegal drugs broke families apart and destroyed the future of young men and women who otherwise could have had a very promising future,” Rep. LRay Villafuerte said over the weekend.

“We owe it to the people we serve in our respective communities to fully support the President’s war against illegal drugs,” the first-term Camarines Sur congressman said, urging mayors and governors to do their share in weeding out potential criminals. 

Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu, who filed House Bill 9 along with other congressional leaders led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, said drug treatment centers help recovering drug users to become productive citizens again.

HB 9 seeks the establishment of more rehabilitation centers in the country. 

“We call for the immediate passage of this bill, so drug dependents will have a greater opportunity for rehabilitation and eventual reintegration to the community,” the Batangas lawmaker stressed. 

“With appropriate public-private sector partnerships, we can collectively help drug victims to get right back on track and pursue their life aspirations which temporarily took a backseat when they were into drugs,” Abu said.

Villafuerte, meantime, proposed that governors and mayors tap the services of barangay health workers in training local government staff in treating outpatient drug rehabilitation cases at the grassroots level. 

He said LGU officials have “an obligation and duty to their constituents to support the President’s relentless war against narco-traffickers and their cohorts in the government and the police force.”

Villafuerte recently filed a bill creating a drug rehabilitation center in Libmanan town. 

“Our local officials, who are the frontliners in this fight, should do their share in helping the government put up at the soonest the drug rehab centers that we need to accommodate the overwhelming number of drug dependents who have surrendered to authorities,” he said. 

Duterte earlier created a DILG-led task force to oversee the treatment and rehabilitation of drug dependents nationwide.

Executive Order 4, dated Oct. 11, 2016, calls for the establishment of at least one Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) in each of the country’s 81 provinces, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao. 

The presidential directive aims to significantly increase the number of drug rehab centers accredited by the Department of Health from the current 16 nationwide.

Under the EO, the President tasked LGUs to reach into their annual budgets to assist in, or enhance, the enforcement of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, with priority given to preventive or educational programs and the rehabilitation or treatment of drug dependents.

Target tax evaders and smugglers, too

Meanwhile, a self-confessed former drug user and incumbent congressman said the Duterte government’s zeal against illegal drugs must also be applied to tax evaders and smugglers. 

“If we do the same effort we are doing with the drug problem on this taxation thing, sa tingin ko mas marami tayong makokolekta (I think we could collect more),” Negros Oriental Rep. Arnulfo Teves said in a privilege speech at the House of Representatives recently.

Teves said imposing new taxes must only be the last resort, after making sure the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs are 100 percent in their collection efforts.

The neophyte lawmaker, who admitted using drugs but says he is now living a clean life, told his colleague Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe that errant and corrupt BIR and Customs officials or personnel should be the subject of the government’s Oplan Tokhang.

“Kaya ko po ipinaaabot dito para marining ni Presidente (I want this to be heard by the President). And I’m sure he is very serious on his corruption efforts, and this non-collection in the BIR and the smuggling in the BOC are definitely a form of corruption, and I think he wants all these things stopped already,” Teves said.

Teves then called on the House leadership under Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to invite the BIR and Customs officials “so that we can discuss how we can help them improve their collection rate.”