EDITORIAL - Why drugs continue to exist at CPDRC

The latest operation at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center by the police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency personnel yielded the usual contraband: illegal drugs and paraphernalia, deadly weapons and other prohibited items.

At least 60 detainees have lost their visitation privilege as punishment after prohibited items were recovered from their cells. This means they will be kept from contact with the outside world for several days or weeks.

As usual, we expect the Capitol and CPDRC officials to step into the issue and conduct another investigation to punish those responsible for the smuggling of those illegal items into the provincial jail facility.

But even as we expect some heads to roll over this latest development, jail authorities are still having a hard time curbing the entry of illegal drugs and other banned items into the CPDRC, where some of the province’s known drug personalities are detained.

While the latest haul is not as big as those confiscated during the previous operations, the continued presence of illegal drugs and other contraband has become the biggest problem besetting the jail facility.

We cannot blame those who suspect that some CPDRC guards are themselves involved in the illegal drug trade because of the fact that the illegal substance continued to proliferate inside the facility despite the heightened security, especially during visiting hours.

Well, the fact that the illegal drug trade continues to exist even in the most secured detention facility in Central Visayas only validates such suspicion. But as to why the jail authorities are not going the extra mile identifying those jail guards involved in the drug trade remains a mystery.

It has become routine for the Capitol to replace the CPDRC leadership every time there is drug controversy. But, as the public sees it, changing command has never been the solution Capitol officials should have taken an extra effort delving into the bottom of the problem.