Rampant recycling of seized illegal drugs alarms senators
By Rica Arevalo
Published Sep 16, 2019 02:49 pm
By Mario Casayuran
The revelation of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron N. Aquino regarding the rampant recycling of illegal drugs seized during anti-narcotics operations has alarmed senators who raised questions on the success of the government’s war on illegal drugs.
Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
With Aquino’s revelation, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said he is not optimistic about the success of the Duterte administration’s illegal drugs campaign.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said the administration is winning the battle against illegal drugs but is losing the war.
The recycling, according to reports, starts from the time the illegal drugs are seized during anti-drug operations by government agencies and eventually pocketed by law enforcers.
Temptation to pilfer drugs from the P22 billion worth of illegal drugs, mainly “shabu” (crystal meth), stockpiled by the PDEA the past nine years is also a cause of concern, Drilon said.
This also means that the trial of drug cases is taking a long time.
Aquino said the inability of court judges to act on illegal drug cases that include a court order for the destruction or burning of these drugs within the legally mandated 72 hours from the time of apprehension is also causing a pile up of the volume of seized illegal drugs.
The PDEA chief said his agency has already burned or destroyed P55 billion worth of illegal drugs from the time he took over on September 13, 2017.
He likewise revealed that a businesswoman in Manila has been buying recycled drugs from law enforcers at the price they dictate.
Aquino, however, said a PDEA operation against the businesswoman was a failure.
This prompted Drilon, a former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary during the Cory Aquino presidency, to ask Senator Lacson, chairman of a Senate finance sub-committee, to request the Supreme Court to allow Court Administrator Midas Marquez of the Supreme to appear before the Lacson committee and explain why court judges are not cooperative in the illegal drug campaign.
The Lacson committee resumes its public hearing on Monday.
Marquez should warn judges to act fast on drug cases or face administrative sanctions, he pointed out.
Drilon recalled that when he was DOJ secretary 25 years ago, he confronted witnesses on the drugs confiscated and for presentation before the courts. However, he was told that the drugs were eaten by rats.
But with what Aquino revealed, Drilon said, drug pilferages are on a bigger scale and that the rats are getting bigger.
Drilon likewise disagreed with Dela Rosa about throwing drugs into canals or burning them immediately after seizure so that they do not any chance to be recycled or kept for so long.
But Drilon said the drugs have to be kept for presentation before the courts as evidence.
At the Senate hearing, Aquino also revealed that traffic of illegal drugs directed at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City had been monitored but no arrest had been made.
PDEA, with equipment from the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency, used to have an office at the Bureau of Corrections building during the time of former BuCor chief and now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa but had to transfer to another location which proved not ideal for “wire-tapping.”
Aquino told the Lacson committee that he did not attempt to resume tapping the electronic communications of drug lords at the NBP with their outside sources during the time of former BuCor Director Nicanor Faeldon because of their “bad blood.”
A Senate public hearing on irregularities at the BuCor conducted by Senator Richard Gordon revealed that rich drug lords, who buy hospital passes for feigned illnesses, direct the traffic of illegal drugs at the NBP hospital through the use of smuggled cell phones.
“I am disgusted and saddened by the report of PDEA that recycling is rampant as they involve law enforcement agencies as asserted by the PDEA. I am not optimistic about the success of anti-drug campaign,” Drilon later told Senate reporters.
Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
With Aquino’s revelation, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said he is not optimistic about the success of the Duterte administration’s illegal drugs campaign.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said the administration is winning the battle against illegal drugs but is losing the war.
The recycling, according to reports, starts from the time the illegal drugs are seized during anti-drug operations by government agencies and eventually pocketed by law enforcers.
Temptation to pilfer drugs from the P22 billion worth of illegal drugs, mainly “shabu” (crystal meth), stockpiled by the PDEA the past nine years is also a cause of concern, Drilon said.
This also means that the trial of drug cases is taking a long time.
Aquino said the inability of court judges to act on illegal drug cases that include a court order for the destruction or burning of these drugs within the legally mandated 72 hours from the time of apprehension is also causing a pile up of the volume of seized illegal drugs.
The PDEA chief said his agency has already burned or destroyed P55 billion worth of illegal drugs from the time he took over on September 13, 2017.
He likewise revealed that a businesswoman in Manila has been buying recycled drugs from law enforcers at the price they dictate.
Aquino, however, said a PDEA operation against the businesswoman was a failure.
This prompted Drilon, a former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary during the Cory Aquino presidency, to ask Senator Lacson, chairman of a Senate finance sub-committee, to request the Supreme Court to allow Court Administrator Midas Marquez of the Supreme to appear before the Lacson committee and explain why court judges are not cooperative in the illegal drug campaign.
The Lacson committee resumes its public hearing on Monday.
Marquez should warn judges to act fast on drug cases or face administrative sanctions, he pointed out.
Drilon recalled that when he was DOJ secretary 25 years ago, he confronted witnesses on the drugs confiscated and for presentation before the courts. However, he was told that the drugs were eaten by rats.
But with what Aquino revealed, Drilon said, drug pilferages are on a bigger scale and that the rats are getting bigger.
Drilon likewise disagreed with Dela Rosa about throwing drugs into canals or burning them immediately after seizure so that they do not any chance to be recycled or kept for so long.
But Drilon said the drugs have to be kept for presentation before the courts as evidence.
At the Senate hearing, Aquino also revealed that traffic of illegal drugs directed at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City had been monitored but no arrest had been made.
PDEA, with equipment from the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency, used to have an office at the Bureau of Corrections building during the time of former BuCor chief and now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa but had to transfer to another location which proved not ideal for “wire-tapping.”
Aquino told the Lacson committee that he did not attempt to resume tapping the electronic communications of drug lords at the NBP with their outside sources during the time of former BuCor Director Nicanor Faeldon because of their “bad blood.”
A Senate public hearing on irregularities at the BuCor conducted by Senator Richard Gordon revealed that rich drug lords, who buy hospital passes for feigned illnesses, direct the traffic of illegal drugs at the NBP hospital through the use of smuggled cell phones.
“I am disgusted and saddened by the report of PDEA that recycling is rampant as they involve law enforcement agencies as asserted by the PDEA. I am not optimistic about the success of anti-drug campaign,” Drilon later told Senate reporters.