Saturday, August 07, 2004 20 foreign students in drug watch list By Rimaliza Opiņa
BAGUIO CITY -- Twenty foreign nationals studying in various Baguio City colleges are under surveillance for illegal drug use or trafficking, said Friday the chief of the drug enforcement agency in the Cordillera.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Senior Inspector John Paul Mencio, however, declined to identify the universities and colleges where the students study.
He said his agency is coordinating with its counterpart in Region 1 in monitoring an Iranian national studying in Dagupan City who regularly comes to Baguio under suspicious circumstances.
Anti-narcotics agents are determining if the foreigner's frequent visits to Baguio City have anything to do with prohibited drugs.
Mencio did not discount the possibility of the Iranian being involved in the drug trade, as the school where the Iranian national studies had confirmed that he has not been attending classes.
He said he is not sure if the school has already reported the matter to the Bureau of Immigration (BOI).
BOI alien control officer Antonio Prieto of the Baguio field office said they do not conduct periodic drug examinations on foreign students who come to Baguio.
He said what the Bureau of Quarantine of the Department of Foreign Affairs does is conduct a routine medical examination on foreigners upon their entry into the country.
"I believe the medical examination is more or less complete."
He added that the determination of a foreign national's involvement in drug use or trafficking is purely a police job.
What the BOI does is to coordinate with concerned authorities, like the embassy, foreigner's school and the police.
Two universities in Baguio City said, meanwhile, that they do not employ special mechanisms to determine if foreign students of their schools are into drugs.
Dr. Perfecto Lopez, University of Baguio (UB) vice president for academic affairs, said what they require from foreigners desiring to study in their school are medical certification from their country of origin and certification from the Bureau of Quarantine.
Earlier, Dangerous Drugs Board executive director Jose Calida said students comprise the bulk of first-time users of drugs, especially shabu.
Baguio officials also earlier expressed apprehension over shabu use among students following reports that the city could be one of the favorite havens of pushers, considering that students comprise around 35 percent of the city's population.
A news report published in several national dailies last year even quoted a source as saying that students in one of the universities in Baguio buy as much as a kilo of shabu from pushers. School authorities, however, denied such allegation.
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