Mrs. Arroyo gave the order after law enforcement agencies, led by the newly formed Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), mapped out strategy in a two-day conference concluded yesterday at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
She said the groups will be "targeted and dismantled" in the same way that police have pursued kidnappers.
"I said, ‘Go after the criminals, not the crime’," she said. "So with this workshop of the PDEA, I expect that they immediately will hit the ground running because they know what their role is."
To carry out the campaign, PDEA Secretary General Miguel Coronel said a specific law enforcement unit would be assigned to take out a particular illegal drug ring in the PDEA’s "order of battle."
"Each identified syndicate will be pursued by a specific team," he said.
Of the 226 illegal drug syndicates in the PDEA’s order of battle, most of them are local and only 11 are foreign — mostly Chinese.
Of the 215 local drug gangs, 116 were operating in Luzon, 48 in the Visayas and 51 in Mindanao, said Interior Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido, also the PDEA director general.
Police say many crimes have been sparked by drugs, the most abused of which is the "poor man’s cocaine" known popularly as shabu.
Police say much of the shabu sold in the Philippines comes from China, smuggled through the archipelago’s poorly guarded coastline. They arrested 57 foreigners, mostly Chinese, in drug busts last year and seized more than 1,000 kilos of shabu worth about P2 billion.
Figures released at the drug enforcement conference said there were 1.8 million regular users of illegal drugs and 1.6 million occassional users.
Mrs. Arroyo had also ordered local government units to participate in the campaign which she wants to wage "down to the street level."
"We will not only run after the drug groups. We will also identify all personalities involved in street-level (drug) pushing," she said, "to establish a united front against these syndicates."
City and town mayors have already been directed by Interior Secretary Joey Lina to form "anti-drug monitoring teams" that would be on the lookout for drug dealers.
Because the PDEA is still in its formative stage, Mrs. Arroyo said anti-narcotic units of various law enforcement agencies would be "deputized" by the PDEA.
The PDEA, created by Republic Act 9165 which the President signed into law on July 4, took over supervision of the anti-narcotics units of all government agencies .
"They are deputized as PDEA agents, provided that the PDEA shall be informed of their operations within 24 hours from the time of actual custody of the suspects or seizure of dangerous drugs, precursors and paraphernalia," the President said.
"While this is so, the (Philippine National Police), (National Bureau of Investigation) and other law enforcement agencies are not deprived to effect lawful arrests and seizures in consonance with the provisions of Section 4, Rule 113 of the Rules of Court," she said.
In her State of the Nation Address in July, Mrs. Arroyo said terrorism and crime – mainly kidnap-for-ransom gangs and drug traffickers – have undermined the country’s economic recovery efforts.
She vowed to "break the back" of criminality and terrorism as part of her efforts to build a "strong republic."
In May, the President signed an anti-drug law that would make the possession of 10 grams of heroin or cocaine punishable by death.
About 21 kidnap gangs operate in the country, giving the Philippines a reputation as Asia’s kidnap capital.
Several gangs have been dismantled and many members and leaders have been arrested or killed in gunbattles with police and soldiers, including Faisal Marohombsar, a leader of the Pentagon gang included on a US list of terrorist groups. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, AFP