PDEA being ‘demonized’ by Amnesty International – Palace

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday decried the vilification campaign against the Duterte administration by Amnesty International (AI) in undermining the capabilities of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to lead the war against illegal drugs.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said AI simply wanted to “demonize” the PDEA after President Duterte tasked the agency to take over the government’s flagship campaign from the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“While Amnesty International is known to be disparaging of the frontline role of the PNP in the anti-illegal drug campaign, now it sees the relief of the agency as a mere public relations stunt,” Abella lamented.

“PDEA is the new object of AI’s, and similar groups’ ire and vilification. Nevertheless, the government will proceed in its drive to make the Philippines a crime-, corruption- and illegal drug-free nation,” he said.

Abella said Malacañang remains “hopeful” that PDEA operations “will not be jeopardized by the interference of outside agencies that fail to appreciate our desire, not for a drug-tolerant but drug-free nation.”

Duterte on Thursday ordered the PNP to pull out from the war against drugs and tasked the PDEA to take the lead in the anti-drug campaign.

The PNP’s “Oplan Tokhang,” the flagship campaign against illegal drugs, was halted along with “Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded” and other anti-illegal drug operations in the field.

Duterte signed a memorandum on Wednesday directing the PNP, along with the National Bureau of Investigation, Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as the Bureau of Customs and all other agencies to refrain from spearheading drug operations.

The order also covers all ad hoc anti-drug task forces.

Duterte had said his order was to “satisfy” the call of rights groups and the international community to tone down his brutal campaign against drugs.

AI, however, said Duterte’s decision to shift the responsibility of pursuing the campaign against drugs could be just a “short term” public relations stunt to appease the growing criticism.

James Gomez, the watchdog’s international director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said putting PDEA in charge was just meant to squelch public furor over the mounting number of dead people, most of whom are poor and young.

Gomez said Duterte had done this before when the police were temporarily ordered to cease conducting anti-drugs raids following the outrage over the killing of a South Korean businessman inside the PNP headquarters.

No reforms were done and Duterte immediately reinstated the PNP to the drug war under “Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded.”

Gomez said the government should end the brutal war and adopt a policy that would respect and protect human rights.

Duterte on Friday said he would maintain a hands-off policy in the campaign against illegal drugs since he has already tasked PDEA to lead the campaign.

He added critics and human rights advocates who were noisy about the killings will be “winning” in his decision to pull out the PNP from the drug war.

Duterte said he gave the authority to PDEA in a bid to shield the PNP and law enforcement agencies from the accusations of summary killings of drug suspects.

In a television interview on Friday night, Duterte admitted his decision would have serious consequences on the drug problem. He did not elaborate.

More money for PDEA

On the other hand, a party-list congressman proposed giving more support and budget to the PDEA.

“Congress should give PDEA between P10 billion and P15 billion so it can hire more agents and personnel to be more effective in the anti-drug war,” Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said.

“They need it because they are undermanned, underequipped. If they are not given the necessary funding support, they will fail,” he said.

Atienza said the P900-million funding for next year for the anti-drug campaign of the PNP should be realigned to augment PDEA’s P2.6-billion budget.

“Since the PNP has been directed to stop conducting anti-drug operations, necessarily, that fund should be transferred to PDEA,” he added.

Atienza supported the President’s decision to transfer the lead role on the anti-drug war from the PNP to PDEA.

“We should all rally around President Duterte’s decision to give the PDEA this job. After all, the PDEA is the primary agency tasked with the government’s anti-drug effort. The police, on the other hand, should concentrate on apprehending criminals roaming the country today,” he said.  – With Jess Diaz