The President will not be fast-tracking or resolving the war on drugs by simply returning agency leadership to the Philippine National Police (PNP) from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), concerned senators said over the weekend, warning this could even worsen the problem.
Instead, the PDEA, which is “legally mandated to be the country’s primary agency in the antidrug campaign,” should retain leadership and the PNP be directed to lend “its full operational muscle to fill up the lack in manpower besetting the drug agency,” Sen. Grace Poe said last Sunday.
Poe, chairman of the Public Services committee, warned: “We must not forget that the PNP has been involved in too many controversial operations, thus casting doubt on the organization’s ability to uphold the rule of law and respect basic rights.”
She said the only reason the PDEA seems hampered is that it is severely restricted manpower-wise, and having the PNP provide the needed warm bodies for the campaign should redress this, not returning leadership to the controversy-ridden police force.
“With PDEA remaining on top of the operations and with PNP providing main support, the government will be able to help rectify the manner or conduct of such operations. This is also consistent with the President’s desire to pursue a more vigorous antidrug campaign,” Poe said.
The PNP, at the same time, must also clean up its organization and strengthen the Internal Affairs Service (IAS), which, like PDEA, has been severely hampered by lack of resources and manpower, Poe added.
The IAS last week released its findings on the Caloocan police killing of Carl Arnaiz in September, saying the two cops deliberately killed him in cold blood after apprehending him on an alleged robbery of a taxi driver.
“The directives and goals of the leadership must always be in accordance with the law and due process, and must also stress the importance of human life,” the senator said.
“Finally, we need to see the drug problem from a wider perspective. It should also be considered a health and socioeconomic issue that requires alternative mechanisms to address the drug problem from these angles,” Poe added.
The President earlier assigned the lead role in the crackdown on illegal drugs to PDEA following public outrage over the controversial death of 17-year-old student Kian Loyd de los Santos and 19-year-old Arnaiz at the hands of Caloocan policemen in August.
In a memorandum signed on October 10, Duterte told law-enforcement agencies to let PDEA “as the sole agency” to conduct anti-illegal drugs campaign and operations.
Meanwhile, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has set aside P10 million to train former drug dependents who need assistance to obtain decent jobs.
The NGCP has allocated the amount for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program dubbed “Bukas na Pintuan Tungo sa Pagbabago Open Door Towards Change”.
The amount allocated for 2017 to 2018 will fund the operational expenses and the supplies and materials needed for the skills, development training under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda). It will also cover the honoraria of the program trainers and the assessment fee of the trainees to acquire National Certification II in Scaffolding Erection and Pipefitting.
“Our goal is for the beneficiaries to become Tesda-certified so that they have a better chance of securing viable employment and livelihood opportunities,” the NGCP said.
The NGCP aims to have up to 2,100 program beneficiaries over the two-year period. It will work closely with the local government units (LGUs) of the host municipalities to identify the beneficiaries, and coordinate with Tesda for the training programs and the Public Employment Service Office for the employment of the program graduates.
By working closely with the LGUs, the NGCP can also closely monitor the skills training and the employment status of the beneficiaries. This, in turn, will strengthen the grid operator’s partnership with the LGUs of its host communities.
The NGCP, the sole operator of the country’s power grid, wants to provide assistance to recovering drug users by giving them a second chance at life through the said program, by providing skills training and employment opportunities to former users and dependents.
“Everyone deserves a second chance. We believe in the willingness to change and strong potential of former drug users to join or rejoin the work force,” the NGCP said. “A productive and effective way to wage war on drugs is to provide adequate training and employment opportunities to former drug users, so that they can turn their lives around and provide a better life for themselves and for their families.”
As a CSR program of the NGCP, Bukas na Pintuan Tungo sa Pagbabago is being piloted in Bataan. It will support the Bahay Pagbabago Reformation Centers of the provincial government of Bataan, which were designed to help former drug dependents who have voluntarily surrendered for rehabilitation. Bukas na Pintuan’s pilot projects will be implemented in three Bahay Pagbabago Reformation Centers in the municipalities of Dinalupihan, Orion and Balanga City.
Around 26 percent or 1 in 4 of the 2.3 million drug users in the Philippines are unemployed, according to initial findings by the National Anti-Poverty Commission, which was based on figures from the Dangerous Drugs Board in 2015.
To date, information from the PDEA reveals that there are already 1.2 million drug users who have voluntarily turned themselves in for rehabilitation. However, Tesda pointed out that former drug dependents still need assistance to obtain decent jobs.
With reports from Lenie Lectura
5 comments
madmaing naging pagkakamali ang PNP sa pag aresto palang kaya dapat sa PDEA nlng tlga humawak ng kaso ng war on drugs
trabaho ng PDEA ang nkakasakop sa war on drugs, hindi n kailangan ibalik sa PNP, alam nating nung PN P ang humawak nyan pati mga sibilyan nadamay
PDEA is the agency should hold all cases in war on drugs, specialty nila yan, kaya dapat wag na sana agawin pa ng PNP
pag nsa PNP ulit ang war on drugs baka mas lalo ang marami mapahamak, sabik sabik bumaril ang ibng PNP lalo na yung may mga pinoprotektahan
The PDEA has done a good job but it was only able to catch small drug smugglers. It is a small agency for a nationwide and maybe, even an international problem, so you cannot blame PDEA. If all the former administrations had faced the drug program with more determination, we would not be in this situation now. Should we wait until we become another Mexico or Colombia or Nicaragua? (For those who do not know the extent of the powers of the drug lords in these countries, please do a little more reading.)
There is no other government agency that can deal with a nationwide/international problem like drugs where the criminals are filthy rich, murderous, with no conscience. True, some PNP personnel are very gun-happy but this can be solved, not by handing the drug problem to some small agency, but by internal cleansing and metting out heavy punishment for erring PNP personnel. EJK is blown out of proportion by the media because it makes people angry, resulting in more news to report. (Connect the dots with de Lima, EU, and scalawag PNP personnel and you will have RED BOLD headlines).
Either PNP or Mexico or Colombia or Nicaragua. Choose.