Barbers named anti-drug czar

President Arroyo formally designated yesterday Sen. Robert Barbers as "anti-drug czar" to spearhead the renewed drive against illegal drugs.

Mrs. Arroyo clarified that Barbers’ new post does not mean she is pulling him out of the Senate. She said Barbers will simply provide "operational directions" to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in his capacity as chairman of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo has ordered PDEA director Anselmo Avenido "to pay a courtesy call" on Barbers and work out a plan in coordinating their anti-drug efforts.

"That (courtesy call) is a euphemism for Avenido to report to Senator Barbers," Bunye told The STAR.

Barbers was selected for the job because he is the chairman of the Senate committee on illegal drugs and principal author of the law creating the PDEA.

Bunye noted that Mrs. Arroyo precisely said Barbers, a former Manila police colonel before he entered politics, would have an oversight authority in the anti-drug campaign of the government.

Mrs. Arroyo formally enlisted the help of Barbers who earlier offered to resign his post as lawmaker to help out in the three-month campaign against illegal drugs.

Under the Ramos administration, Barbers resigned as Surigao del Norte representative when he was recruited to the Cabinet to head the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

A former member of Manila’s Finest, Barbers figured prominently in many drug busts, including the controversial arrest of Jose "Don Pepe" Oyson who was shot for allegedly trying to grab a policeman’s handgun while being escorted to detention.

The President told Barbers to tap the services of former Manila mayor and ex-DILG secretary Alfredo Lim "to provide extra muscle in the anti-drug campaign," highly placed sources told The STAR yesterday.

Palace sources said Mrs. Arroyo’s legal advisers are still trying to work out a plan by which Lim can accept the job since he is more senior than the PDEA chief.

"It would be a problem of protocol if General Lim would be under Avenido," the Palace source said.

Sources said there is also a great possibility that retired police colonel Reynaldo Jaylo would also be tapped.

"When Barbers and Lim are together, Jaylo would not be far behind," one source added.

Jaylo figured prominently in several controversial drug busts by the National Bureau of Investigation as head of its reaction force. Lim was the NBI director during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino.

The appointment of Barbers and the possible recruitment of Lim and Jaylo came after Mrs. Arroyo ordered the PDEA and other law enforcement agencies last Wednesday to solidify the crackdown on illegal drug traffickers and produce positive results within three months.

Mrs. Arroyo told officials "to do a Thaksin," referring to what Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did in a three-month crackdown against drug pushers and drug trafficking syndicates.

Barbers, for his part, called on Mrs. Arroyo to lift the moratorium on death penalty and set an example by carrying out the death sentences on convicted drug traffickers.

Barbers said Mrs. Arroyo should immediately order the execution of up to 10 death convicts.

He noted that the seven previously executed were either convicted of rape or robbery with homicide, but none for drug trafficking.

Of the 1014 on death row, 41 have been convicted for drug trafficking. Barbers noted that the cases of 31 inmates convicted of drug trafficking are still being reviewed by the Supreme Court.

Barbers, however, admitted the 90-day period by Mrs. Arroyo "is not enough to finish the drug problem in the country."

He said a year or two "would be the logical time frame to enable the anti-drug campaign of the government to gain positive and substantial results."

Barbers said he will not spare anyone, including his colleagues in the Senate or people closely identified with the administration.

He said he will choose his own men, who would mostly come from the ranks of the police and the NBI with "integrity, knowledge and proper education in the anti-drugs campaign."

Can you handle it?

Some of Barber’s colleagues at the Senate, however, expressed doubts that he can double as a lawmaker and at the same time, as a member of the executive branch of the government.

Some senators noted Barbers might be facing a case of conflict of interest and would have to choose which job to keep.

For his part, opposition Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said Barbers should resign from the Senate to focus more on the anti-drug campaign of the government.

"He cannot be a lawmaker and at the same time performing executive functions. That is not constitutionally viable," Biazon said.

Biazon said Mrs. Arroyo cannot simply appoint a lawmaker to an executive post without the appointee resigning from the legislature.

Even administration Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on ethics, said Barbers has to give up his post as lawmaker if given the mandate by the President to lead the anti-drug campaign.

Pangilinan also said Barbers’ dual position would also pose constitutional questions.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Barbers might only be interested in the P1 billion allocation by Mrs. Arroyo to the anti-drug campaign.

"I just hope that the reason for Senator Barber’s wanting to leave the Senate was not for the P1 billion budget, but rather for the success of the anti-drug campaign," Lacson said.

Barbers, for his part, turned the tables on Lacson. "Maybe it’s him (Lacson) who is after the P1 billion budget," he said. – With Jess Diaz, Jose Rodel Clapano