Senators want LEDAC convened on anti-drug campaign
Senators called on President Duterte to convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to help the administration chart a more comprehensive and effective anti-drug campaign.
Duterte on Tuesday sought the help of the Senate and the House of Representatives to strengthen his anti-drug campaign.
“We will be willing to give him (Duterte) 100 percent cooperation,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said. “I’m looking forward to the LEDAC so we will know what else he needs.”
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the LEDAC is the institution to get the inputs as well as the cooperation of the legislative branch in the administration’s various initiatives. “A consensus is always good,” Recto said. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, declared his unequivocal support for Duterte’s anti-drug campaign “like every peace-loving Filipino should.”
He pointed out all his bills were mostly on fighting crime, including expanding the wiretapping law, restoration of the death penalty for illegal drug offenses and enhancement of the authority of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration, and amending the Dangerous Drugs Act.
He said Duterte’s calling on members of both houses of Congress to assist him was long in coming, “but it’s never too late.”
“I’m thankful that he now acknowledges that he can’t do it alone and needs our assistance to defeat the drug menace,” Lacson said.
54 celebrities in drug trade
The list of drug suspects is expected to get longer as President Duterte made a separate list of celebrities who either use or sell drugs, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa. An insider in Camp Crame told The
STAR that a representative from the entertainment industry sought an audience with Dela Rosa to arrange the surrender of the celebrities.
“A representative from the entertainment sector is scheduled to be at Camp Crame on Friday to discuss the problem and possibly arrange the surrender of these drug personalities in the industry,” the insider said.
At least 54 celebrities have been tagged. Dela Rosa said some of them are popular
singers and television hosts, but he declined to name them.
“Our basis in coming up with this drug list of people in the entertainment industry is the confessions made by drug suppliers whom we have busted, as well as pieces of evidence that we have recovered in our anti-drug operations,” Dela Rosa said during the Manila Overseas Press Club (MPOC) forum Tuesday night. “Ang dami talagang gumamit ng drugs dyan sa
kanila (many of them are really using drugs),” he added.
Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde, chief of the National Capital Regional Police, said the drug lists are only part of the intelligence information.
“When you say it’s intelligence information, it can be true or not. But all these came from drug suspects whom we have busted. We are now conducting thorough validation for possible filing of cases in court or the filing of search warrants against these people if these have been found out to be positive,” he explained.
Dela Rosa reiterated that wiretapping is one of the best ways to nail down drug traffickers, just like what is being done in Colombia.
“Colombia has been successful in its anti-drug drive because they have a law allowing the police to just go and get clearance from the fiscal to conduct wiretapping op- erations against suspected drug personalities,” he said.
Dela Rosa was in Colombia recently for an antidrug conference where he learned other strategies to deal with the drug menace in the country.
Bato to Ramos: It’s our time now
Dela Rosa also responded to former president Fidel Ramos’ criticism of the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Ramos was earlier quoted as saying that during his presidency, the policy in addressing the country’s drug problem is not shoot to kill, but “shoot to disable” because dead suspects could no longer be investigated.
“Kaya siguro dumami ang mga drug lords (Perhaps that’s why the number of drug lords increased),” Dela Rosa said in response to a question posed by The STAR columnist Domini Torrevillas at the MOPC forum.