THE head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) welcomes the re-entry of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in government’s war on illegal drugs.
PDEA-7 director Emerson Margate said he will meet with PNP officials in the region to properly coordinate the anti-drug operations and will be cautious in selecting PNP and PDEA personnel assigned to conduct raids.
“We welcome PNP being back on the war on the illegal drugs campaign. We need all the hands na pwedeng magtrabaho pero kailangan po talagang salain kung sino yung magtatrabaho (We need all the hands that could work but there is a need to properly select those who will do the work),” said Margate adding that even PDEA is undergoing its own internal cleansing as well.
Policemen who will be part of a police station’s drug enforcement unit will have to go through strict reviews and background checks to determine whether they are equipped and capable enough to conduct operations to avoid anomalies, said Margate.
He also urged people to file cases against law enforcers who will abuse their power during the conduct of government anti-drug operations.
For its part, PDEA-7 will use the only body camera they have during their operations to record the raids.
Last week, Malacañang announced that PNP will resume operations against illegal drugs although PDEA will remain as the lead agency.
The National Bureau of Investigation, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Customs and Philippine Postal Corporation will also resume their active support to PDEA.
The announcement made by Presidential spokesman Harry Roque comes two months after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered PDEA to be the sole agency to handle the drug war last October.
According to Roque, public clamor and PDEA’s lack of resources were among Duterte’s reasons for issuing the new directive.