PDEA chief says gov’t winning war on drugs

The chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said the government has been winning the war on illegal drugs.

Speaking at the Fernandina Media Forum in San Juan the other day, PDEA Director Anselmo Avenido said there are several indicators that would prove their claim of success.

"We could say we are succeeding since, at the moment, shabu now is very scarce. In fact, the price of shabu has gone up to 5,000 or more per gram from P2,000 after we were able to cut the supply," Avenido said.

He explained that the recent news stories on a recent US government report did not paint the entire picture of the situation.

Last week, the US State Department called the Philippines "a drug trafficker’s paradise," saying the illegal drug trade in the country has evolved into a billion-dollar industry.

"Parang lumabas na negative ang report. But if you look at the whole report, there are several positives points that were mentioned. The report said despite limited resources, our law enforcement efforts are considered effective. This is positive. It was also mentioned that the government is now addressing this problem," he said.

Avenido said the country has a national anti-drug strategy, as well as a national anti-drug program of action.

He denied that the country is now a haven for traffickers, saying the Manila country office of the US Drug Enforcement Agency only cited a geographical description of the Philippines.

"This was not a statement of fact, but a statement of possibility. The report, made annually by the US State Department, is used by their decision makers in allocating funds for the anti-drug campaign for other countries," Avenido said.

He said if the US tags a country as drug free, they will no longer give support to that particularly country, he explained.

Avenido said the Philippine government attends to institution building so that agencies can perform anti-drug functions properly.

President Arroyo has issued an executive order directing law enforcement agencies to create anti-drug task forces to assist the PDEA during this transition period.

He said PDEA, now in a transition period, will be a full-pledged agency in July 2007, having its own personnel.

The anti-drug law states it should be the only agency authorized to conduct anti-drug operations, he said. The other law enforcement agencies can only provide assistance.