EDITORIAL - Get the big fish

Out of an initial batch of 1,181 policemen, 12 tested positive for drug use, the Philippine National Police reported the other day. Among the 12 was a chief inspector assigned with the PNP Aviation Security Group. More drug abusers in the PNP are expected to be ferreted out as the drug testing continues.

No one wants drug-addled cops patrolling the streets or handling criminal investigation. Purging the PNP of drug abusers is a move that is long overdue. At the same time, however, the government must go after the bigger fish: cops who pilfer prohibited drugs that have been confiscated by law enforcers, and cops who coddle drug traffickers.

The country will not be a major transshipment point for prohibited drugs and there will be no major drug problem without the connivance of law enforcers. Drugs are big business, and lawmen have long enjoyed a piece of the action. Members of the Hong Kong and Chinese triads or crime gangs are well known in the Philippines, but they are free to roam the country because they enjoy the protection of law enforcers. Local drug dealers are also known to the police, but often they are arrested only when they fail to cough up protection money.

Then there are the lawmen who pilfer drugs confiscated during raids. This has happened in both the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation, prompting some quarters to propose that seized drugs be destroyed immediately after proper inventory. Often, however, the pilferers are narcotics agents themselves, who steal the drugs for their own use or for sale in the streets. The drugs could be pilfered long before they are presented to an evidence custodian for inventory.

Identifying the drug abusers in the PNP could provide some leads in investigating the extent of police involvement in the drug trade. Ferreting out the pilferers and coddlers of drug dealers, however, will require more work. Having renewed the anti-drug campaign, the government should not hesitate in going after cops, regardless of rank, who are protecting drug traffickers.