PDEA to use barcodes on confiscated drugs inventory

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is set to implement an automated inventory system of confiscated pieces of drug evidence through the use of barcodes to preserve the integrity of the pieces of seized contrabands under the agency’s care.

The nationwide PDEA Evidence Inventory and Information System (PEIIS) project will be put in place in forensic laboratories of PDEA’s national and regional offices.

PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino said the PEIIS is expected to provide additional security features and preserve the integrity and evidentiary value of seized drug evidence received in its custody during legitimate anti-drug operations.

He added the “system also lays a framework in achieving an organized data collection program for speedy and accurate documentation and accounting of evidence.”

The PDEA Laboratory Service under Director Derrick Arnold Carreon and Information and Technology Management Division (ITMD) of the Plans and Operations Service (POS) under Director Maharani Gadaoni-Tosoc, are the driving forces behind the PEIIS project, which started in July 2017 and completed in January 31, 2019.

Aquino noted that chief chemists and evidence custodians of laboratory facilities in 17 PDEA Regional Offices across the country are presently undergoing a three-day familiarization training under Filmetrics Corporation, the same company that developed the online drug inventory system.

“This is the first time in the history of the country that a system was developed to barcode confiscated drug evidence. This makes PDEA the first government agency to utilize such system of tagging of evidence,” Aquino said.

Aquino said the PEIIS will address questions on the integrity of drug evidence, issues on recycling, and the manner of safekeeping, quantity, and destruction of evidence.

The PDEA chief asserted that PEIIS forms only a part of the agency’s relentless capability to enhance the agency’s program to safeguard the integrity of the pieces of evidence seized during its anti-illegal drug operations.