Oaminal out of drugs body

CEBU, Philippines - He had an inkling that he would soon be replaced, but he never thought that it would be this soon.

This was according to former Dangerous Drugs Board Vice Chairman Atty. Clarence Paul Oaminal after he got the formal order from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that he was already replaced from the said position.

Oaminal, who had served as the undersecretary for DDB for almost two years now, said that he got the formal notice from their Executive Director last March 19 saying that former DDB Assistant Secretary Rommel Garcia was the new undersecretary.

Garcia’s appointment was already effective last March 5, however, Oaminal said that he did not have any knowledge about it since he was busy doing his job.

Oaminal was the only one from the original three permanent members of the board that stayed longest in office.

Former Senator Tito Sotto resigned as DDB Secretary due to his candidacy in the elections and Usec. Romeo Vera Cruz also resigned.

Sotto was replaced by the former Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. and Vera Cruz was replaced by Butch Belgica.

Oaminal said that he was disheartened over losing his position since he still had a lot of plans to eradicate the increasing drug problem in the country especially with cocaine.

He said that he already knew that his position was his as long as the president allows him to hold it and could take it away from him anytime, without reason.

This, according to Oaminal, is the reason why he will continue in his advocacy to fight illegal drugs in the country, even without formal office.

He said that one of the pending requests he has with Malacañang is the issuance of an order directing DOJ to revise a circular on review of drug cases.

In a letter dated March 8, 2010, Oaminal congratulated the president for the issuance of Administrative Order No. 53 entitled “Automatic Review of the decisions and resolutions of the Secretary of Justice involving dismissal of cases under Republic Act 9165”.

However, Oaminal explained that a systematic scheme has been devised by defense counsels and prosecutors to legally evade the Executive Order and DOJ Circular No. 46 (Automatic Review of Drug Cases) and this should be changed if the country would want to see improvements in resolving drug cases in the country.

The circumvention is done by convincing the arrested clients that instead of signing a waiver of detention for the conduct of preliminary investigation, they would allow the filing of information directly in court without the conduct of inquest and preliminary investigation.

 The scheme comes in when the accused moves for a reinvestigation before the court, and the prosecutor then recommends for its dismissal.

This can be done, as DOJ Circular No. 46 covers only cases dismissed by the city or provincial prosecutor on inquest/preliminary investigation or on appeal but not on reinvestigation directed by the Court.

Oaminal said that wrote the DOJ twice, through former Secretaries Gonzales and Devinadera, but sadly to no result. He said he is hoping that he will have a positive feedback this time with the president.

He said that the problem on the circular is a bigger burden than the concern on the non compliance of Section 21, which is on the physical inventory and photography on anti drug operations which have also reportedly caused numerous dismissals of drug cases.

For Central Visayas, 1,288 cases were resolved and 169 resulted to acquittals, but 346 cases were dismissed and never went to trial.

 Oaminal said that he also wanted to pursue the expansion of the Alternative Development Program which they started in Balamban with Senator Sotto and those in Danao, Toledo, Dalaguete, Alcoy and Badian.

Last year, Oaminal personally retrieved 55 kilos of cocaine in Borongan, Eastern Samar the first batch of the 318 cocaine bricks now recovered out of the 1.5 metric tons dumped into the sea.

It was he and the late Secretary Cerge Remonde who suggested to the President of rewarding the fisherfolk of one sack of rice for every cocaine brick surrendered.

His book, Textbook on the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 was cited by the Supreme Court on the interpretation of section 21, the only book cited so far by the High Tribunal.

Now that he has been removed from office, Oaminal will focus his energy on the campaign of Senator Sotto, who is eyeing a senate seat in the May 2010 elections.

He is supporting Sotto, who promised to prioritize in his legislative agenda the amendment of section 21, creation of special drug courts and national drug penitentiary.

Sotto has likewise proposed the inclusion of drug rehabilitation in the coverage of the Philhealth program.

Oaminal, prior to his appointment into the DDB, was the legal consultant of PDEA-7 since its creation in 2002, and oversaw the dismantling of the mega shabu laboratory in Mandaue City and the extradition of its suspected financier from Hong Kong. —/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)