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Monday, January 12, 2009
Gov't is losing war vs drugs: group
MANILA -- An anti-crime group on Sunday warned that the country is fast losing the war against the proliferation of illegal drugs.
Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) chairman Dante Jimenez made the warning in the wake of the controversy generated by allegations of bribery in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) dismissal of the drug case against the so-called "Alabang Boys."
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph, and Joseph Tecson were arrested on September 20 last year by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in two separate drug operations in Cubao, Quezon City and Alabang, Muntinlupa.
The three suspects were charged but State Prosecutor John Resado later dismissed their case on technical grounds. They, however, remained in PDEA's custody pending a final review by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. of the case.
"If we go by our experience monitoring drug cases, we are losing the war. We are losing the battle against illegal drugs despite the effort," Jimenez said.
He attributed this to corruption in the justice system and law enforcement service.
"Layers of corruption plague the justice system from the investigation to the prosecution, from the court all the way to the penitentiaries. It is heart breaking when drug money worms its way to the judicial system," he said.
The Alabang Boys case has drawn attention to the government's campaign against illegal drugs, as well as the cases that have been dismissed by the justice department.
PDEA, the country's front liner in the war against illegal drugs, said aside from the Alabang Boys case, the DOJ has also junked several high-profile cases, namely: the raided shabu laboratories in Naguilian, La Union and Sta. Cruz, Laguna and the P4 billion shabu smuggling case at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
The anti-drug agency claimed that money changed hands in the Alabang Boys case. However, the DOJ prosecutors denied the accusation, saying they recommended the case's dismissal because anti-narcotics agents committed technical blunders when they arrested the three men in September last year.
The DOJ prosecutors linked to the alleged bribery were told by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Sunday to go on leave.
In a statement, President Arroyo said she has directed Secretary Gonzalez to spare no one in the controversial Alabang Boys case.
"The full force of the government's powers to act against those who betray public trust should be applied swiftly and unequivocally, more so in this case which has illegal drugs - society's cancer - on one hand, and the supposed pillars of the justice system on the other," she said.
The President said the government would not allow a breach in the war against illegal drugs and narco-politics on a broader level. "We are witnesses to the tragedy that befell countries that paused on their war on illegal drugs," she said.
"Our war on drugs should be vigilant and unrelenting. It should not be compromised," she said.
"I am a mother who is bothered by an alleged conspiracy to let loose on our streets new pushers of illegal drugs. What if they lurk on my street?" she asked.
Arroyo said Filipinos cannot overstate the reminders from anti-drug agencies that "illegal drugs wreck lives."
"They do not just destroy lives. They gnaw at the core foundation of a nation's most precious asset - its young people. Illegal drugs sap young victims of their vitality, joy and enthusiasm. Directly and with extreme prejudice, they also sap the strength of the nation," she said.
PDEA records showed that majority of heinous crimes are committed by persons under the influence of illegal drugs.
A report last year by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted the prevalence of drug abuse in the Philippines was found to be at six percent of the population aged 15 to 64 years old.
The number for the Philippines is far greater than that of Thailand (second place) with 0.8 percent followed by the Lao People's Democratic Republic or Laos with 0.7 percent, Cambodia with 0.6 percent, and Myanmar and Vietnam each with 0.2 percent.
The report said from 20,000 drug users in the Philippines in 1972, the number rose to 6.7 million in 2004. (AH/JMR/Sunnex) |
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