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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, February 1, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is taking over the antidrug campaign of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Under the law, the PDEA is the country’s lead agency running after drug trafficking, said Negros Island Region director Roselyn Borja.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the PNP to suspend its war on drugs and focus on “internal cleansing” following the abduction and killing of South Korean businessman allegedly by rogue police officers.
Borja acknowledged the challenge. “[We] could not do it alone. We need the support of all stakeholders, including local government units,” she said.
In light of Duterte’s order, Director General Ronald Dela Rosa dissolved all the antidrug units of the PNP.
Borja said the PDEA agents are empowered by Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Section 82 provides for the creation of the PDEA as “implementing arm of the [Dangerous Drugs] Board…responsible for the efficient and effective law enforcement of all the provisions on any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical” as stated in the law.
Borja cited Section 84, which provides that:
“[The PDEA shall] initiate and undertake a national campaign for drug prevention and drug control programs, where it may enlist the assistance of any department, bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality of the government, including government-owned and -controlled corporations, in the anti-illegal drugs drive, which may include the use of their respective personnel, facilities and resources for a more resolute detection and investigation of drug-related crimes and prosecution of drug traffickers.”
Borja vowed to closely coordinate with the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation in cracking down on drug personalities.
“It’s already a policy that every time the PNP conducts antidrug operations, they coordinate with us (PDEA),” she pointed out.
Senior Superintendent William Señoron, director of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, had told the press the dissolution of the PNP’s antidrug units was “temporary.”
“[It] doesn’t mean we will stop [our] antidrug operations,” Señoron said./PN
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