Sinas
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas denies ‘recycling’ of evidence for drug operations
POLICE Regional Director, Chief Supt. Debold Sinas yesterday emphasized that the police can account for all the illegal drugs confiscated during their anti-drug operstations as he dismissed insinuations that operatives were “recycling” confiscated shabu in their operations.
“We are confident that the crime lab is keeping the shabu safe and we can show you the documents nga sakto ra. Unsay na- confiscate namo, mao sad naa sa crime lab. (What we confiscate is what is in the crime lab.) We can assure you that and makita na ninyo (you will see that),” Sinas said during a press conference.
The highest police official in the region vehemently denied that they are recycling shabu (crystal meth) just to show that they are confiscating illegal drugs and challenged their detractors to inspect the vaults where the confiscated evidence are kept.
Sinas said that they are willing to show the vaults and request the Regional Crime Laboratory to show to the public the confiscated shabu.
“We are willing to show and check the Crime Lab para to assure the public nga wala mi nag recycle,” said Sinas (We are willing to show and check the Crime Lab to assure the public that we are not recycling the shabu)
He said that all shabu confiscated by the police in the region were turned over and safely kept by the evidence preservation division of the Crime Laboratory.
Sinas added that once they turned over the shabu to the crime lab, they could no longer get it unless it will be shown to the court.
“What we are confiscating on the streets came from drug suppliers,” said Sinas.
“We don’t do that. I could guarantee that we are not doing it and its also prohibited to recycle drugs as evidence,” Sinas added.
He said policemen never recycle confiscated shabu which are well kept in vaults while court trials continue.
He earlier said the supply of shabu in Cebu came from Metro Manila, some of which may have been part of the contraband that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Sinas reiterated that the police are putting their best effort to eradicate illegal drugs.
ADAC
Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) began on Monday the performance audit of local anti-drug abuse councils (ADACs) to ensure the effectivity of the government’s war on illegal drugs.
Acting Interior Secretary Eduardo Año pointed out that based on Memorandum Circular 2018-159, ADACs would be assessed based on their organization, conduct of quarterly meetings, allocation of funds for anti-drug activities, implementation of ADAC plans and programs, support for ADACs in component local government units (LGUs) and innovation.
“Kahit na puspusan ang pagkilos ng pamahalaan laban sa droga, hindi pa rin ito lubusang natutuldukan. Kailangan ng sama-samang pagkilos at aksyon lalo na ng mga ADACs para tuluyan na itong mawala,” Año said in a statement.
(Despite the government’s intensified drive against illegal drugs, we still see no end to the menace. We need coordinated efforts with ADACs to solve this problem.)
The team organized and chaired by the DILG with representatives from its line agencies — Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) — and other civil society organizations, will audit 81 provincial, 145 city and 1,489 municipal ADACs nationwide.
“Hindi lang ang DILG ang magsasagawa ng audit sa mga ADACs. Katuwang namin dito ang ibang ahensya ng gobyerno at mga CSOs para masiguro ang integridad ng proseso at ng resulta,” Año explained.
Año said ADACs will also be judged based on their two main functions — the establishment of community-based rehabilitation services and the conduct of drug-clearing operations.
The department said that there would be five phases in auditing ADACs— Phase 1 tackles data gathering and verification; Phase 2 involves the review of the documents submitted by the ADAC provincial audit teams, while Phase 3 would be the finalization of all gathered scores and ratings of the ADAC National Audit Team.
The top ADACs would be presented on Phase 4, while the list of the best ADACs would be released to the media on Phase 5, on December 2018.
Año reminded LGUs to be one with President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign, to finally rid the country of illegal drugs. /with reports from Inquirer.net