New PDEA chief: Jail for dealers, rehab for users

The newly installed head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will target the main sources of illegal drugs and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said yesterday they would collaborate with other government agencies in solving the illegal drug problem.

Aquino said the agency would coordinate with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) now headed by Commissioner Isidro Lapeña, former PDEA chief, who recently said that 70 percent of illegal drugs pass through the seaports that the BOC failed to detect.

“If we remove 70 percent of illegal drugs circulating in the country, that’s a big accomplishment,” Aquino said in a news briefing after the turnover ceremonies at the PDEA office in Quezon City.

Aquino said that the appointment of Lapeña, whom he used to work with in Davao, as BOC chief would mean smoother collaboration between the two agencies.

“There will be more collaboration and coordination. We will pour our resources to help them,” he said.

It is better to focus on the main sources of drugs rather than focusing on street-level drug operations.

“Why don’t we target the main supply?” he said.

Another agency he wants to collaborate with is the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) with its perennial problem on drugs.

He received information that one of his classmates in the Philippine Military Academy, whom he did not identify, might be appointed head of BuCor.

With a manpower of barely 2,000, Aquino admitted the agency needs the help of other law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP) headed by Director General Ronald dela Rosa, who was also once assigned in Davao.

Aquino is also pushing for the creation of communitybased rehabilitation centers nationwide to help the 1.3 million drug dependents who have so far surrendered to the government.

“We have too many operations. Let’s reform them to give them a chance,” Aquino said.

Aquino added he would ask the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to implement this program which he initiated in Central Luzon.

The one he implemented in Region 3 was a threemonth program that produced positive results with approximately 18,000 former drug dependents having been reformed.

DILG officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy said he welcomes Aquino’s proposal and will coordinate with the PDEA.

P5-M reward to informants

PDEA also distributed yesterday more than P5 million in cash rewards to eight informants under its Operation Private Eye project.

Lapeña handed out the cash to the informants identified only as June, Sakuragi, Kiko, Spotter, Maximus, Excellente, Boi and Bald Head.