President Arroyo created Thursday a task force to save overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the clutches of international drug trafficking syndicates that have been using them as couriers.

The President issued Administrative No. 279 forming the nine-man Drug Couriers Task Force (TFDC), which is tasked to develop and execute programs and strategies to stop the recruitment of Filipinos as international drug couriers as well as “to orchestrate all operational efforts and provide assistance towards a more aggressive apprehension and prosecution of members of drug trafficking syndicates operating in the Philippines.”

The President took the step after noting the snowballing number of drug trafficking cases involving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), President Arroyo has created the Drug Couriers Task Force (TFDC), an inter-agency task force that would prevent Filipino nationals from being used as drug couriers by international drug trafficking syndicates.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will co-chair the task force, while the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bureau of Customs (BoC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), and the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) sit as members of the task force.

Under the AO 279, which was signed on February 8, the President cited the need to conduct an “intensive and unrelenting” campaign against drug syndicates victimizing Filipino nationals.

“There is an alarming increase in the number of Filipinos who have been enticed, duped and subsequently recruited to act as drug couriers by international drug trafficking syndicates,” she said.

The programs, operations and the administration of the TFDC are to be funded by the Office of the President from its contingency fund.  The budget of the task force for the succeeding years is included in the regular budget of the Office of the President, the February 8 directive said.

The AO was the product of the inter-agency meeting convened by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita last month to address the lingering drug trafficking cases involving Filipinos in China.

There are about 73 Filipinos slapped with death sentence in China, 10 of whom were sentenced to death without reprieve and 63 others on death row with two-year reprieve.

Of the 10 Filipinos who face death penalty in China without reprieve, two are pending at the People’s Supreme Court of China, and the rest are with the Appellate Court or the Higher People’s Court.

“The fight against illegal drugs is a gargantuan task where all available government resources should be utilized and concerned law enforcement agencies must coordinate closely and act jointly to ensure the implementation of a holistic and unified anti-drug program that will address the problem of drug couriers,” the AO said.