President Rody’s media ‘invite’ a welcome development

A lot of media people including our friend Tony Lopez, the chairman of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), welcome the president’s order to allow members of the media to cover the anti-illegal drugs operations of the Philippine National Police. Bringing in the media at the onset of the operations will show that the government wants transparency, which is what people have been clamoring for with regard to the government’s war against illegal drugs which has bred allegations of rubouts and extra judicial killings.

“Opening up” will also be good for the international community so that they will also see that the government does not have an “official policy” of killing drug offenders – a perception that unfortunately has escalated following the killing of teenage boys Reynaldo de Guzman, Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Kian delos Santos. Malacañang has expressed deep concern about the killings of these boys, with the president himself saying this could be an effort to sabotage the government’s relentless campaign against illegal drugs. People close to the president aver that there seems to be a conspiracy to discredit the administration’s efforts to curb the illegal drugs trade.

If one could remember, the president has raised the possibility of a “drug war” between drug syndicates who resort to extrajudicial killings to eliminate their rivals in the trade. It is not also farfetched that rogue cops are also using legitimate police operations to “silence” witnesses and their so-called “alpha” or assets who could also implicate these dirty cops. No doubt, the proposal by Senator Ralph Recto for body cameras for policemen and dashboard-mounted cameras for patrol cars will help document the police operations and provide proof in case of allegations of extra-judicial killings or summary executions. 

Everyone knows that one of the major reasons why the illegal trade has also proliferated is because of the protection offered by corrupt police officials for big-time drug lords who turn out to be politicians who want to control the illegal drug trade in their local fiefdoms. Studies have also shown that a spike in criminal activity – among them drug trafficking and kidnapping – happens during election season because these dirty politicians need to raise campaign funds.

No question the problem has become so deeply entrenched in this country, spreading out into many cities and provinces because our porous borders have allowed drug traffickers to ply their lucrative trade over the decades – coupled with the complicity of corrupt employees and officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as seen in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China that is now the subject of a Senate investigation.

Hopefully, the Senate investigation – while it is primarily in aid of legislation to find the loopholes in BOC laws and regulations regarding importations, shipment and apprehension of suspect cargo – will help ferret out the truth regarding the issues that have been raised about drug smuggling and trafficking, including allegations that the family of the president is involved.

However, our senators should be mindful that the proceedings do not turn into a circus because when the hearings become a spectacle, then we only make a fool of ourselves before the international community. Inane questions and preposterous assumptions – for instance, claiming that a tattoo is proof of membership in an international criminal organization like the Chinese triad – is the kind of negative publicity that the international media loves to pick up and broadcast all over the world.

Nevertheless, the allegations of corruption in the BOC are very serious, not to mention disturbing because of the amount of money involved – P6.4 billion just for that shipment. A lot of people also agree with the comments of Senator Richard Gordon that China is “shabulizing” the country because majority of the drugs coming into the Philippines are sent by Chinese syndicates.

Even US Ambassador Sung Kim has also expressed concern with the situation, urging China to take more action in stopping the entry of illegal drugs in the Philippines. As the American diplomat noted, most of the precursors (chemicals) that go into the production of illegal drugs (like shabu) come from China.

A recent report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the impact of criminal syndicates on the security and economic development of Southeast Asian countries revealed that the “regional illicit drug market is estimated to be worth over $30 billion per year. UNODC research shows that Southeast Asia hosts the world’s largest methamphetamine market, as well as the largest opium and heroin market. While the business models of the two drugs are quite different, production of both generally takes place where state institutions are weak and chances of interception are low. The drugs are then trafficked to meet demand in large population areas.”

The UNODC report further noted that organized crime groups in China are “also producing and trafficking significant quantities of methamphetamine into and through the region,” turning Southeast Asia into “the world’s largest methamphetamine market” today. Even North Korea is reportedly turning into the manufacture and trafficking of “crystal meth” or “ice” to compensate for the economic sanctions imposed by the UN, with the base ingredient – phenylacetic acid – said to be smuggled from China.

One welcome development that could beef up the country’s effort to combat smuggling and illegal drug trafficking is the plan by Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez to equip the BOC with patrol boats through a loan from European financial institutions. The US Drug Enforcement Agency intelligence unit is actively providing our authorities with extremely vital information to combat this menace – information that admittedly has been very instrumental in numerous PNP drug operations.

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