GMA revamps drugs board following US ‘drug haven’ report on RP

President Arroyo is revitalizing the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and putting it in charge of the fight against illegal drugs following a US government report describing the Philippines as a "drug smuggler’s haven."

"The DDB is provided by law to be a separate department and to take over the anti-drug campaign from the police," Mrs. Arroyo told STAR columnist Babe Romualdez in a one-on-one interview at Malacañang yesterday.

"The transition is supposed to be done next year, so we have to accelerate the transition so that it will be done by next year," the President said.

In its annual report on the worldwide illegal drug trade, the US State Department said the illegal drug trade in the Philippines has evolved into a billion-dollar industry.

The Philippines also continues to experience an increase in foreign organized criminal activities from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the department said in its 2006 International Narcotics Control Report.

The report is a requirement of the US Congress and describes the efforts of countries to combat the illicit trade.

"The Philippines is a narcotics source and transshipment country. Illegal drugs enter the country through seaports, economic zones, and airports. With over 36,200 kilometers of coastline and 7,000 islands, the Philippine archipelago is a drug smuggler’s paradise," the report said.

The report noted that local rebel groups, including the Communist Party of the Philippines, source part of their funding from trafficking narcotics and arms, as well as money laundering through ties to organized crime.

Mrs. Arroyo acknowledged the problem of illegal drugs in the country.

She said the involvement of rebel groups "gives us all the more incentive to go hard against the drug trade. So I am revamping the DDB so it does not become just a side job of the secretary of interior and local government."

The recent police raid on a shabu "bazaar" in Pasig City, just meters from city hall, and other efforts to combat the illicit trade were "evidence of our renewed, very vigorous anti-drug campaign," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"You’ll see more of that fight against drugs, fight against corruption, fight against smuggling," she pledged yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency contested the US report, saying its conclusion was without basis.

"The report that with 36,200 kilometers and 7,000 islands and most unpatrolled by government authorities, (led) them to the conclusion that it’s a drug smuggler’s paradise, but it is not a statement of fact," PDEA chief Interior Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido said in a separate interview on Vice President Noli de Castro’s weekly radio show.

Anselmo conceded, however, that the illegal drug trade in the country is now a billion-dollar industry but said there was nothing alarming in the US report.

"The negative side was highlighted because of our limited resources, but our accomplishments are outstanding," he said.

Based on the quantity of seizures in 2005, the US report said the Philippines continued to be a leading producer of crystal methamphetamine, known locally as "shabu."

It also noted evidence indicating links between terrorist organizations and drug trafficking.

Domestic production of crystal methamphetamine exceeds demand, with most of the shabu-making ingredients smuggled into or illegally diverted after importation into the Philippines from China.