Deal a lethal blow on the drug menace
Once again, the anti-drug campaign is in the headlines, after a drug bust operation resulted in the confiscation of 60 kilos of shabu and the arrest of a former official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
It was not clear whether Col. Ferdinand Marcelino was there as an enforcer or as a violator of an agency he once ably represented. Some vouched for his unsullied integrity, while others were quick to conclude about his complicity.
Former Chief of Staff Dionisio R. Santiago, who has left a sterling record of good performance as PDEA director general said that “it was out of character” for Marcelino to turn into a drug lord. But the former PDEA chief quickly added that he could no longer be sure one way or the other. “I am for a fair investigation – to establish whether he is innocent or guilty. Justice must take its course.”
That brings us to view the big picture. There will be drug bust operations bursting into the day’s headlines when we relax our guard, and we are jolted into our senses. And we ask: When will this ever end? When can we see the day when the drug menace is finally out of our day-to-day reality?
When can we ever be free from the violence brought by drugs, when unspeakable crimes are committed, so beastly that they can only be perpetuated by drug-crazed criminals?
When there are no clear answers, the resigned refrain of Bob Dylan’s song comes to mind: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind!”
Fortunately, the answer has “blown into town” – meaning, it is here – and its able advocate is Gen. Dionisio Santiago, called “Dionix” by friends and associates.
The drug problem, Dionix says, has reached national proportions – “and we are not exaggerating,” he adds. He quotes the latest PDEA report showing that the wide swath of the drug menace has affected all barangays all over the Philippines.
General Santiago cites these disturbing figures:
A very alarming situation about the proliferation of drugs is noted in the National Capital Region: 92.26 percent, or 1,574 out of 1,706 barangays are drug-affected!
In Region 4A in Calabarzon, for example, 49.9 percent (or 1,969 out of 4,011 barangays) are now affected by drugs. In Region 7, Central Visayas, 48.82 percent (or 1,466 out of 3,003 barangays) are “drug affected.” In Region 3 in Central Luzon, 41.42 percent (or 1,285 out of 3,102 barangays) are affected by drugs.
“Drug-affected” means that in such barangays, there are manufacturers, or users, or pushers in such areas. These are not mere statistics, these are lives being destroyed by drugs.
Dionix is emphatic when the topic shifts to how we can strengthen our state agencies – and the entire national community – to finally stamp out this drug menace. He emphasizes that the laws must be introduced to “give real muscle” to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
General Dionix has clear recommendations along these lines:
• Fortify a new unified central agency, and given full authority in stamping out drug proliferation.
• Strengthen inter-agency coordination, prevent in-fighting, turf war, and credit grabbing, the bane of many enforcement lapses.
• Reduce if not eliminate disjointed moves and overlapping efforts that compromise the mission and safety of operative units.
General Santiago laments that at times government is at the losing end, while the multi-level syndicates take advantage of government agencies that could not get their act together.
The “buy and sell drug economics” is clear. Controlling “drug demand” means you must reduce buyers and users of drugs. This requires change in behavior and attitude among our people, Dionix explains.
Controlling “drug supply” is enforcement-driven. He speaks plainly but strongly: Identify and jail the drug lords, shut down drug manufacturing facilities and send drug users to rehabilitation centers.
“We should also stop big shipments of drug from China and other countries,” Dionix says, mincing no words.
As the drug menace had spread its tentacles in every barangay, the same menace found its way in all our prisons.
Country-wide, we have 464 jails – the ones supervised by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. According to Dionix, there are 94,320 inmates in these jails. And drug offenders, numbering 57,151, are in these jails – or 61percent of the entire inmate population.
Something must really be done by government to finally lick the drug situation – or realistically, keep it under control.
We need General Santiago to go back to government – as consultant perhaps or as a legislator in the Senate. With his forthright and “devil-may-care” stance in stamping out drugs, he should be at the forefront providing details about the drug situation – and point therefore to new laws to strengthen our national resolve to free our country from drugs.
Alas, many of our officials are also into drugs. The General whispered to me some names using and dealing illegal drugs – and I was aghast!
And yet more than sounding the alarm, we should listen to General Santiago – shades of Heneral Luna – whose experience in the field would come in handy to push a legislative agenda to deal a lethal blow on drugs.
As one who has seen the countryside, saw combat in conflict-prone areas, and led civil relations activities making our people productive, General Santiago knows the extreme value of stamping out the drug menace – and so pursue the higher goals of peace and prosperity for the Philippines.
It would be a waste if the country will not benefit from Heneral Santiago’s valuable insight and experience as head enforcer – as we seek pieces of legislation that can be crafted and pushed to fix the agency’s structure and mandate once and for all.
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