In the face of the growing drug menace in the country, which has resulted in sensational crimes, a legislator on Wednesday urged local government leaders to support the national anti-illegal drugs campaign by institutionalizing a rewards system for informants who help authorities arrest drug dealers, couriers and manufacturers.
Sen. Grace Poe said local governments can follow the model of Operation: Private Eye, the monetary-reward system being used by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) to gather information on dangerous drugs and result in the arrest of drug personalities.
Last year the Pdea arrested 13,792 drug personalities and seized P6 billion worth of illegal drugs and chemicals. Half of the antidrug operations used the buy-bust methods and relied on tips from informants’ and agents’ intelligence reports.
“We cannot succeed in the anti-illegal drugs campaign if we cannot rally everyone, especially local leaders, to our cause. Many of those who have information are scared to come forward, because they risk not only their safety but also the security of their families, who rely on them for support,” said Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Dangerous Drugs.
She said the local governments’ network, especially in the barangays, remains an untapped resource in the fight against dangerous drugs. Even with the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council, citizen participation in the anti-illegal drugs campaign is still very low.
The Philippines has one of the highest rates of methamphetamine use in Asia, with an estimated 960,000, or 2 percent, of the adult population using the drug popularly known as shabu.
Around 20 percent, or 8,400, of the country’s 42,000 barangays are drug-affected, meaning they host a user, pusher, producer or cultivator, or other drug personalities, the Pdea said.
Last year anti-illegal drugs enforcement agents rescued 181 minors, including a 6-year-old—the youngest to be arrested for drug activity since 2003—who were using or selling illegal drugs.
“The fight against dangerous drugs is the fight of every parent, every teacher, every worker and every official. We have a duty to protect our children, and ensure that these dangerous drugs never reach them,” Poe said.
She said the monetary reward from the government would provide financial assistance to informants and deliver a message to all citizens that the government is serious in combating illegal-drugs activities.
In 2014 the Pdea awarded P18 million to 28 informants who provided information through Operation: Private Eye. This cooperation resulted in the arrest of 52 people and the seizure of 670 kilos of shabu, 347 kilos of ephedrine, 16 kilos of marijuana, 3,897 ecstasy tablets, 515 “fly high” capsules and other chemicals.
One of the informants received as much as P2 million.
“While we want to give incentives, the rewards system is not about the money but the willingness of people to also assume responsibility for making their neighborhoods and workplaces safe and free from criminal elements,” Poe said.
Private Eye informants may share their information with PDEA by telephone (920-0967), e-mail (iis.pdea@yahoo.com), or by filling out the Information Report Form, and sending this by mail or messenger to Operation Private Eye, c/o Room 207, PDEA Building, NIA Northside Road, Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City.
Poe said local governments can establish a similar system that will not reveal the identity and compromise the security of their informants.