Drug bureau wants Eastern Visayas to be drug-free

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Eastern Visayas (PDEA) urged Tuesday all government and private business managers and supervisors to ensure a drug-free workplace.

"PDEA is promoting a drug-free workplace in line with the salient provisions of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 which mandates the PDEA to lead the enforcement of a national drug control system particularly in working places such as offices and public utility terminals and schools," said Liza Baoy, PDEA-8 information officer.

"Ten years after the effective date of Republic Act 9165 and despite the premium it puts on the promotion of a drug-free workplace, the drug menace continues to threaten a government bureaucracy largely unable to patrol its own ranks," Baoy added.

This observation comes to fore as James Cinco, 35, was arrested on March 7, 2013 by PDEA elements in an entrapment operation involving methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu near a popular restaurant in Salazar Street in Tacloban City.

Cinco is an administrative aide at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and is considered a high-value target by virtue of his being a public servant.

Cinco's apprehension comes in the heels of the arrest of another government employee during a raid on a drug den in Baybay City last February 8, 2013, where an engineer allegedly connected with the Department of Public Works and Highways was among the visitors of the drug den effectively shut down by PDEA and police operatives.

A case for violation of Section 5 of Article II of RA 9165 was filed against Cinco, who is presently in the custody of the Tacloban City Police Office.

He is facing a possible sentence of life imprisonment and payment of a fine of from five hundred thousand to ten million pesos, as per the Court's discretion.
"Information continues to reach the PDEA office about the alleged involvement in illegal drugs of government employees in various capacity, from user to possessor to peddler, to protector or coddler," Baoy said.

Baoy added that PDEA director general Arturo G. Cacdac Jr. has ordered all operating units nationwide to concentrate in high-value targets, particularly elected officials at all levels of governance and employees of government agencies and instrumentalities, including those of law enforcement agencies. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)