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Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Nalzaro: War on drugs should be a concerted effort
By Bobby G. Nalzaro
IF the Arroyo administration is sincere in its war against the proliferation of illegal drugs, it should start the offensive within the various law enforcement agencies by weeding out the scalawags and misfits protecting syndicates involved in the trade. If government cannot do this, I think the drive against the number one menace of society will just be an exercise in futility.
It is difficult to deny that the illegal drug trade has flourished in our country when we know that it has penetrated even the five pillars of the criminal justice system. Big time drug syndicates and transnational drug rings are able to manufacture and smuggle drugs into the country because corrupt law enforcers and people in high places in government are protecting them. Remember the term narco-politics?
If illegal drugs are manufactured locally, why have our intelligence operatives failed to locate the drugs laboratories? Is there a failure in intelligence gathering? If there is, then what are the various intelligence units doing? Where do the intelligence funds go?
Winning the war against illegal drugs needs the concerted effort and active participation of the five pillars of the criminal justice system: community, law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary and rehabilitation. Here, the number one problem is the apathy that results in the community refusing to help law enforcers by providing information of persons involved in the illegal drug trade.
Why? Because many have benefited from the trade. Selling drugs is a lucrative business. Study shows that it is a P30-billion-a-year business. Look at those suspected of involvement in this business, they have become instant millionaires.
With the number of persons believed hooked to illegal drugs increasing every day, can we expect drug users and dependents to cooperate with the police? Even if they know their relatives and neighbors are into the illegal drug trade, some people would rather keep silent for fear of reprisal.
And we cannot blame them because if they talk, government cannot provide enough protection for them and their families.
What about corruption in the prosecution, judiciary and even the penal system? Some prosecutors and judges can easily be bribed. They dismiss drug cases or acquit the accused on mere technicality. Worse, law enforcers, the prosecution and the judiciary sometimes blame one another. The police point an accusing finger at fiscals and judges who dismiss drug cases.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, blame policemen on the take who do not testify against arrested drug suspects.
Sloppy police work, like defective implementation of search warrants and other technicalities, are also being cited as cause of the dismissal of these cases. Drug offenses, especially big-time drug pushing, are non-bailable, but the accused manages to post bail or escape because of the connivance of some corrupt law enforcers and prosecutors.
As for rehabilitation, it is easier to buy drugs inside the jail than outside, as in the case of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center and the Drug Rehabilitation and After Care Center. Pastilan wa na gayoy mapili.
With the creation of a super anti-drug body and the appointment of Sen. Robert Barbers to head it, I can foresee a conflict with existing law enforcement units like Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which is a creation of the newly implemented Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. What about the appointment of former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim as presidential adviser on illegal drugs?
I think the fight against illegal drugs will only succeed if radical change within agencies that are in the frontline is coupled with support from every citizen and all sectors of society. So let us unite and help arrest, prosecute and jail drug lords.
(Send your comments and suggestions to: Bobby@sunstar.com.ph or at bgn@cebu. gmanetwork.com. My cell phone number is 09193181404)
(June 25, 2003 issue)
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