PAOCTF abolition warned

Rep. Ernesto Herrera (Lakas, Bohol) cautioned the new administration against abolishing the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

"Having a super law enforcement agency that would sustain the war against well-entrenched crime syndicates still has merit," Herrera, an anti-crime crusader, pointed out.

"We understand that some quarters are pushing for the PAOCTF’s abolition because of its tarnished image under then (Director General Panfilo) Lacson," Herrera, a former senator and chairman of the Senate special committee on illegal drugs, said.

"However, critics should distinguish between the PAOCTF as an institution and the PAOCTF under Lacson, which created controversy for the alleged involvement of some units in illicit activities," Herrera pointed out.

PAOCTF units under Lacson had been linked to illegal wiretapping, the kidnapping for ransom and summary execution of legitimate Chinese businessmen using anti-narcotics operations as cover-up, drug trafficking and other criminal activities.

The officers and men of the Western Police District have been pushing for the scrapping of the PAOCTF.

Herrera, meanwhile, dismissed as "baseless" the argument that PAOCTF operations have been duplicating the functions of other agencies, including regular units of the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

"On the contrary, we should view PAOCTF operations as complementing the work of other existing law enforcement agencies," Herrera, founding chair of the Citizens’ Drug Watch Foundation Inc., added.

Herrera also said the PAOCTF, owing to its multi-agency character, has been providing government with the means to mobilize elite military units in the fight against powerful crime syndicates.

President Macapagal-Arroyo earlier appointed Director Hermogenes Ebdane as the new head of the PAOCTF.