THE public can expect a more aggressive Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) now that it has more funds in its war chest.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south district) yesterday said the newly approved General Appropriations Act (GAA) earmarked P751.3 million for the PDEA.
It may not be sufficient to finance its anti-drug programs, but still the amount is much higher compared to its perennial budgetary allotment of P135 million.
If he had his way, Cuenco said P5 billion would have been an ideal budget.
“It’s useless to fight this menace if we don’t have bullets,” he told participants of a Visayas-wide anti-illegal drugs workshop at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.
The GAA also allocated P108.5 million for the Dangerous Drug Board.
Cuenco, principal author of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2001, said portions of the budget will be used for the regular hiring of new PDEA agents.
He reiterated his privilege speech in Congress where he criticized the government for allotting a “minuscule budget” to PDEA.
He considered the proliferation of illegal drugs as the foremost problem in the Philippines, more destructive than natural calamities and Abu Sayyaf bandits in Mindanao.
Quoting a reliable source, Cuenco said that nine million Filipinos, which represent nearly 10 percent of the country’s population, are hooked on illegal drugs.
Cuenco, former chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, noticed that big-time drug syndicates, numbering 37 according to his earlier data, continue to operate with impunity.
“Let’s us be wary of the situation. It is likely that drug money will flood in the next elections for politicians who are backed by the merchants of death,” he said.
If the government fails to act swiftly, Cuenco said the Philippines might become the next Colombia, which is notorious for its illegal narcotics trade.
“I don’t want to sound (like) an alarmist, but the situation speaks for itself,” he said.
Cuenco called on workshop participants, composed of PDEA and PNP members, to come up with remedial measures and to strictly enforce the law.
“RA 9165 already has a lot of teeth, but what good is the law if it’s not enforced?” he said.
Cuenco also urged the Cebu lawyer’s league to create a legal team to assist government prosecutors on drug cases.
He lamented that the country’s conviction rate is only 10 percent, way below that of Australia’s 80 percent.
For his part, lawyer Clarence Paul Oaminal, PDEA 7 legal consultant, said the workshop will update and consolidate the data on drug personalities and syndicates operating in the Visayas.
“We have to act as one in this fight,” he said. (GC)
