THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is targeting to procure 200 body cameras and 120 drug sniffing dogs to be utilized in anti-illegal drug operations.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said in a press conference on Monday at Park Inn by Radisson that by March this year, the agency will be purchasing another 200 body cameras to properly monitor the actions taken by the agents who are conducting anti-illegal drug operations.
“[This is] to show to the public that operations are legitimate and transparent,” he said.
Should these be purchased, there will be a total of 450 body cameras on hand for PDEA.
At present, PDEA has a standing guidelines issued in the conduct of anti-drug operations wherein the agents and witnesses, particularly media representatives, shall mandatorily wear body cameras.
Aside from that, he is eyeing to increase the number of drug sniffing dogs or K9 units of PDEA. At presents, PDEA has 45 dogs that assist the agents in detecting drugs paraphernalia.
He said that budget for each dog is P500,000. There are already three companies who want to bid for this.
Likewise, part of the PDEA’s plan is also the procurement of protective equipment such as shields, vehicles, and intelligence equipment.
There are more than 29,000 drug affected barangays nationwide out of 42,000. Of this, around 5,300 barangay have been cleared already and there are remaining 24,137 that has yet to be cleared.
Every year, they target to declare around 7,000 barangays drug-free. Thus, they shifted their effort on drug clearing operations down to the grassroots level where drug affectation is prevalent for the attainment of their goal of drug-free Philippines before the President ends his tern.