Who has overall command of anti-drugs drive?
PERHAPS unbeknownst to many, it is the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB)—and not the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)—that should be the overall leader in the current intensified war against illegal drugs in the Philippines.
While the President is overall-incharge for the execution of all laws, including those related to the antidrugs campaign, it is the DDB—which is directly under the Office of the President—that should be most visible and vocal in crafting the policies and strategies to control and prevent illegal drugs, and implementing them through the PDEA.
Such a setup which put the DDB on top of the command hierarchy, with PDEA in a supporting role as its implementing arm, is based on RA 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the 14-year-old law which unfortunately, like many other laws, is not being fully implemented.
The DDB is a high-powered organization composed of l7 members, nine of whom are part of the President’s Cabinet. Of the 17, three are permanent members and two are regular members.
Twelve of the 17 members are in an ex-officio capacity and these are the Secretaries of the Departments of Justice, Health, National Defense, Finance, Labor and Employment, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, Foreign Affairs, and Education. The other three members are the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, the Chairman of the National Youth Commission, and the Director General of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
The three permanent members now listed in the DDB website are former PNP deputy director general Felipe Rojas Jr. who was appointed DDB chairman last February 26, 2016, by then President Aquino, Dr. Rommel Garcia, and former PNP deputy chief for operations Edgar Galvante who was recently appointed to head the Land Transportation Office.
The two regular members are Rosario Setias-Reyes, national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and Eva Ponce de Leon, national president of the Philippine Association of Social Workers, Inc. The law also provides that the National Bureau of Investigation director and the PNP chief are permanent consultants of the DDB.
The law empowers the DDB to “be the policy-making and strategyformulating body in the planning and formulation of policies and programs on drug prevention and control.” It is tasked to “formulate, develop, and establish a comprehensive, integrated, unified, and balanced national drug abuse prevention and control strategy.”
The PDEA, on the other hand, “serves as the implementing arm of the Board [DDB], and shall be responsible for the efficient and effective law enforcement of all the provisions on any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical as provided in [RA 9165].”
Unfortunately, PDEA did not grow and develop according to law, and until now, the transition period from the PNP-led anti-drug campaign to the PDEA-led drive has not yet been completed.
RA 9165 abolished the Narcotics Group of the PNP, the Narcotics Division of the NBI, and the Customs Narcotics Interdiction Unit. However, Section 86 of the law provides that their personnel “shall continue with the performance of their task as detail service with the PDEA, subject to screening, until such time that the organizational structure of the Agency is fully operational and the number of graduates of the PDEA Academy is sufficient to do the task themselves.”
The law also states that “the transfer, absorption, and integration of the different offices and units provided for in this section shall take effect within eighteen (18) months from the effectivity of this Act: Provided, That personnel absorbed and on detail service shall be given until five (5) years to finally decide to join the PDEA.”
The PDEA Academy—envisioned by law to be established, upon approval of DBB, either in Baguio or Tagaytay, and in other places as may be necessary—is responsible for recruitment and training of all PDEA agents and personnel. So far, a PDEA Academy has been established in Silang, Cavite.
“The graduates of the Academy shall later comprise the operating units of the PDEA after the termination of the transition period of five (5) years during which all the intelligence network and standard operating procedures of the PDEA has been set up and operationalized,” the law stated.
A check with the PDEA Academy website, however, yields no accurate or updated information on its significant accomplishments that include the total number of its graduates who have become drug enforcement officers, and those who have finished specialized courses and skills enhancement trainings.
In the meantime, the PDEA has deputized all chiefs of police to be its deputies in all cities and towns all over the country. Thus, police forces are still very much involved in the anti-drug campaign. Such gives the public an impression that the police, instead of PDEA, is in the forefront of the intensified law enforcement drive against illegal drugs.
With the police seemingly at the forefront in the all-out war against illegal drugs, there are renewed fears that police abuses are again on the rise and scalawags are on a rampage—a primary reason why the law was enacted to create the PDEA and stop police abuses.
It has become imperative for the DDB and the PDEA to be more visible and vocal in the performance of their duties and functions. Failure to do so calls for amending the law to either strengthen them further, or abolish them outright.