DEVELOPER SM Development Corporation (SMDC) on Monday, December 2, said it would provide law enforcers access to condominium units suspected of being used as illegal drug dens.
The company also vowed to coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in flagging activities that could be related to illegal drugs.
“We believe that this coordination serves as the best middle ground between the mandate of the government to run after criminal elements and our responsibility to protect the owners of our properties,” the company said in a statement.
It said such arrangement has resulted in the smooth conduct of operations in their premises during the past month, which also means convenience to other unit owners as they are no longer disturbed by the conduct of operations.
The SMDC said they are also conducting a series of training programs and seminars for their personnel including security guards and maintenance personnel in order to provide them with proper knowledge on how they can detect possible illegal drugs transactions inside a unit without having to get inside it.
Resource speakers from the PNP, PDEA and NBI are invited to teach security guards and other employees on the basics of detection of any criminal activities being done inside their respective properties.
Those activities, according to SMDC, have been extended to owners of its properties, citing the need for all occupants to watch each other’s back under their Community Protection program.
Last year, government anti-narcotics agents arrested a number of big-time drug pushers and confiscated multi-million pesos worth of illegal drugs in various raids in condominium units in Metro Manila.
Recent operations include the P204 million worth of shabu seized in a Pasig City condo unit and the more than P455 million worth of shabu in a subdivision in Las Piñas City.
Then National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guillermo Eleazar said big-time drug pushers have been choosing condo units and other tightly guarded communities as their hideouts for convenience and to avoid detection.
In one of the raids, it was Eleazar who encouraged an official of the SMDC to start a partnership with the police and other law enforcement agencies, particularly in the aspect of illegal drugs campaign launched by President Rodrigo Duterte. (SunStar Philippines)