GMA on anti-drug drive: Teamwork, not turf war

What turf war?

President Arroyo wants law enforcement officials spearheading her administration’s renewed war on illegal drugs to work together instead of trying to outdo each other.

"I would like our law enforcement agencies to be prepared for the big push forward," Mrs. Arroyo said in a speech yesterday. "I will demand a close consolidation of strategies, intelligence and resources — in other words, teamwork and synergy."

Her comment came following confusion over who is in charge of the campaign after she appointed Sen. Robert Barbers last week as her main man.

The situation became more muddled when Malacañang said it would appoint former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim — on Barbers’ recommendation — and Interior Secretary Jose Lina, who chairs the Dangerous Drugs Board, as presidential advisers on illegal drugs.

Barbers, who chairs the Senate committee on illegal drugs, would provide "operational directions" to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. He authored the law that created the PDEA.

Signs of a brewing turf war appeared on Monday following PDEA director general Anselmo Avenido’s comments that the President was the only person he would consider in command of the campaign.

Avenido also reminded his personnel that the PDEA is the lead agency in the government’s war on illegal drugs.

"Everybody’s asking who is the anti-drug czar. There is no czar. This is teamwork," Mrs. Arroyo said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony of a public school in the coastal town of Dolores in Quezon province. "Teamwork and synergy, that’s what we need to fight illegal drugs."

Mrs. Arroyo also called on Dolores’ townspeople to help in the campaign and report drug traffickers, pointing out that much of the drugs in the streets are smuggled through the country’s poorly guarded coastline.

"Every Filipino has a stake in this total war to save our society," Mrs. Arroyo said. "We must be together here in Quezon to fight illegal drugs" because the province has one of the widest coastlines in the archipelago.

"When drug syndicates look for ways to sneak in their smuggled drugs into the country, they look for these shorelines," the President said.

In August last year, Mrs. Arroyo ordered a similar crackdown on illegal drug gangs as part of her campaign against crime, which she said had become a threat to the country’s economic recovery efforts.

Police say many crimes have been sparked by drugs, the most abused of which is shabu. Much of the shabu sold in the Philippines comes from China.

Meanwhile, Barbers called for joint efforts to win the renewed campaign, saying "politics and partisan considerations" should be set aside.

"The problem in the Philippines is alarming, so it’s now time for us to join hands and work together," he told a Monday night television talk show.

Appearing in the same show, Efren Fernandez, executive director of the Dangerous Drugs Board, denied a turf war with Barbers was brewing. The PDEA is the DDB’s implementing arm.

Barbers said he could "recommend strategies even in the area of operations" and suggested that law enforcement agencies work hard to ensure convictions.

Many drug traffickers have been arrested since the PDEA was established in July last year but convictions have been slow because of the snail-pace judicial process, the former Manila police colonel said.

"Even drug laboratories are raided but the process of hearings belongs to the jurisdiction of the courts. It cannot be avoided that hearings are delayed but it is most important that these cases are already in court," he said.

"I’ve been telling authorities from the police to the PDEA to sustain a successful prosecution in court," otherwise all their efforts would be useless if they lose in court, he added.

Barbers has offered to resign from the Senate to lead the campaign full-time after Senate President Franklin Drilon questioned his appointment, saying the law forbids public officials occupying two government posts.

Drilon said he supports the anti-drug campaign, but stressed that the law must be respected.

"Senator Barbers cannot do that, and Senator Barbers knows this, because if he would occupy such a post, it would be a public office," he said in a statement.

"A public office is one where a person or an individual is given an authority to exercise as part of the sovereign functions of the government for the benefit of the general public."

Commenting on Drilon’s concern, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Malacañang would respect the law.

Sought for his comment on Barbers’ appointment, presidential aspirant Raul Roco said Barbers could not stay on as senator if he assumes the post.

"In my understanding of the law, if you take an executive position, you forfeit your legislative position," the former senator told reporters. "I think that should be studied by the government very carefully."

Roco joined the Arroyo administration as education secretary in 2001 after his term at the Senate ended.

Meanwhile, Barbers’ son, Surigao del Norte Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers, has volunteered to lead the campaign in the Caraga region in the Visayas "if given the chance" by the President.

In a statement to The STAR, he said this would make the campaign more effective. — With Ann Corvera, Rainier Allan Ronda, Bong Fabe