Thursday, January 15, 2009 Arroyo dared to break 26 drug groups in RP
AN ADMINISTRATION congressman on Wednesday asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as the new anti-drug czar, to bust the 26 drug syndicates operating in the country.
"The new drug czar should take hold of this problem and lead the busting of these 26 remaining drug syndicates," said Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco in a meeting attended by members of the House committee on dangerous drugs.
The panel is investigating the Department of Justice's (DOJ) dismissal of the charges against drug suspects Richard Brodett, Joseph Tecson, and Jorge Joseph who are better known as the "Alabang Boys."
The three were arrested by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in two separate buy bust operations in Cubao, Quezon City and in Alabang, Muntinlupa in September last year.
PDEA records showed that of the 32 huge drug syndicates, only a measly six have so far been dismantled. The anti-drug agency already identified the drug syndicates in an executive session last week.
"My question is why until now these syndicates have not been busted," Cuenco said. "Why is it that our government can't bust it?"
He urged the President to "really crack down, bust wide open" the remaining drug syndicates "right here and now."
Cuenco also identified at least two provinces in Mindanao where the drug syndicates operate - Misamis Occidental and Lanao del Sur.
The lawmaker noted that the government's batting average in convicting suspects in drug cases is only pegged from seven to 10 percent of all the cases filed in court.
"In Australia, the rate of conviction is 80 percent but in our country it's even less than seven percent. This is atrocious, this is ridiculous. Our drug campaign is a failure, I hope our new drug czar would look into this," he said.
But Quezon City Representative Vincent Crisologo, during the meeting, said that Congress should also look into the law enforcers' disregard of procedures in implementing entrapment operations, noting that some of them resort to violations of the suspects' constitutional right by planting evidence.
Lousy prosecutors
While no one could deny such claim, Cuenco still believes that one of the primary reasons in the government's miserable record in prosecuting drug suspects is because the prosecutors are "lousy."
"They don't know how to prosecute cases," he said, noting that there is a need to revisit the Revised Penal Code to adopt more stringent penalties against judges who render "unjust" judgment on drug cases and for prosecutors who are "remiss" in their duties.
Another member of the committee, Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, said the President should consider appointing Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat as head of the government's prosecution task force against illegal drugs.
A compilation by the DOJ's Task Force on Anti-Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (TFAND) covering calendar years 2006 to 2007 shows that of the 24 convictions of drug suspects reported by the task force, half were handled by Manabat who is now city prosecutor of Taguig.
"I wonder why he's been assigned somewhere else," Golez said, noting that the likes of Manabat are badly needed in the government's anti-drug campaign.
He said while he commends Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. for his openness to the creation of an independent body to investigate the alleged bribery attempt in the Alabang Boys case, he should "distance himself from the selection of its members."
"If they clear the DOJ, there would be a cloud of doubt because they were handpicked by the secretary of justice," he said.
Strong relationship
Speaker Prospero Nograles, meanwhile, considered the Alabang Boys case a "wake-up call" for drug enforcers and prosecutors to work together and not against each other.
Nograles said a strong relationship between government prosecutors and drug enforcement agencies would assist in the fight against the "drug menace."
He added that the controversy is a "case of inadequate social engineering on both sides."
He said government prosecutors should exert effort to make sure that cases against drug traffickers would be "airtight" and "would stand in court."
The prosecutors should also make these cases stronger instead of dropping cases with the mere use of technicalities.
He also called for prosecutors to "cure the defects" of the law enforcers whenever they commit minor mistakes when it comes to procedure.
For law enforcers, Nograles said they should undergo a legal similar to train them how to arrest and for them to know the steps during buy bust operations so that evidence gathered will be admissible in court.
"It's one thing to arrest, it's another thing to prosecute where evidence is submitted to the court of law," he said. (WV/JLCP/Sunnex)
