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Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Cops do rounds on lairs of 'drug pushers'
By Gwen P. Posadas
DAVAO -- Police did the rounds Tuesday on homes of suspected drug pushers along Boulevard and Bucana in Davao City, as President Arroyo in Manila said authorities would publish a list of known drug traffickers as part of government's anti-narcotics drive.
Davao City police chief Conrado Laza and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Director Wilkins Villanueva led the team conducting a house-to-house inspection starting at 10:30 a.m. in Mini Forest in Barangay 23-C.
One of the alleged drug pushers in the barangay, headed by Amilbangsa Manding, who represents the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in the City Council, is reportedly a relative of the barangay official.
During the inspection, which also had police precinct chiefs Major Filmore Escobal of Sta. Ana, Major Mattheu Bacay of San Pedro and Major Vicente Danao of Talomo in attendance, police spray-painted the homes of drug suspects with "Alsa Droga (Anti-drug) Supporter" aside from exhorting them to stop their illegal activities.
The spray-painting campaign takes its cue from a similar drive instigated by Alfredo Lim, when he was still Manila mayor, where houses of drug suspects were painted to identify them as the homes of pushers.
In the Davao spray-painting campaign, police officials believed they would face no legal hitches since there was nothing wrong with identifying a person as a supporter of the anti-illegal drugs campaign.
Families of the suspected pushers were encouraged by police authorities to turn over their kin to the police for rehabilitation.
Make public
President Arroyo in Manila said government would make public the list of the most notorious drug lords and their coddlers in the country to "give the enemy a face" and to deny them freedom of movement "under cloak of legitimacy."
"The intelligence community maintains a list of the most notorious drug lords and their coddlers," she told a conference of bishops and businessmen in Taguig. "That list will be disclosed in due time as information is gathered on these personalities."
Arroyo added: "Drug lords must be exposed for what they are, destroyers of our future."
She vowed that her month-old campaign to rid the Philippines of drug traffickers would be "relentless and all-encompassing."
Police announced late last month that nearly 16,000 people, including a number of alleged Chinese and Japanese drug dealers, had been arrested over the past year.
Arroyo in June announced a heightened anti-drug campaign that she said was inspired by the crackdown launched by Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Thai leader declared a war against drugs in February and has claimed the results as a success despite an outcry from human rights groups over the draconian methods used.
Drug gangs
Police said at least 70 percent of all crimes in the Philippines were drug-related. They said drug users number up to two million in a population of 80 million.
Authorities have said 175 international and local drug gangs operate in the Philippines.
Davao's drive against the drug gangs included a visit to the homes of suspected pushers.
Police in an inspection Tuesday visited over 10 houses of suspected drug pushers, including the homes of a relative of a barangay official and the son of a police senior inspector.
"Itigil mo na ang pag-negosyo nga droga. Kung di ka titigil, umalis ka dito, kung di ka pa rin maniwala sa dalawa, bahala na ang Diyos," Laza told one of the suspects. (Stop your drug trafficking. If you don't intended to stop, leave the city. If you will not listen to us, it is up to God to deal with you.)
In the area covered by the San Pedro police, the team visited 13 houses, including those owned by two barangay policemen.
All those visited by the police Tuesday were enlisted in the Alsa Droga (Against Drugs) Program. They took their oath at the Almendras Gym.
In the Talomo police's jurisdiction, authorities visited 10 houses. So far, 41 self-confessed users and pushers have surrendered in Talomo, 41 in Sasa, 15 in San Pedro and 14 in Sta. Ana.
The surrender started after summary killings of crime convicts and suspects intensified in June in the city. Many of those who surrendered said they feared for their lives knowing that drug suspects were also being targeted. Sun.Star Davao/With Sunnex Luzon |
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