By GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 is confident of winning the war against illegal drugs.
“It is just a matter of time,” said Regional Director Paul Ledesma.
According to Ledesma, his office had been very successful in apprehending drug personalities, leading to the decline in volume of confiscated drugs.
From 2010 to 2011, PDEA Region 6 seized around P500 million worth of illegal drugs, he said.
The volume and amount of seized drugs went down to P10 million in 2013, he said.
In the first half of this year, however, PDEA had confiscated P14 million worth of illegal drugs, Ledesma said.
It is still lower than PDEA’s self-imposed target — P25 million to P28 million — for this year.
PENDING CASES
Meanwhile, there are 3,852 pending drug cases filed in court against various drug personalities in the region.
Ledesma admitted there’s a problem the disposal of the cases. Resolutions lag behind the accumulation of more drug cases due to dearth of prosecutors in Western Visayas.
“It takes five to seven years for each case to be resolved,” he said.
Ledesma said they file an average of 500 cases in court. In the first half of this year, they have filed 311 cases.
With the slow resolution of drug cases, every year cases keep on piling up./PN
