Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for administration of the Cebu City Police Office. | File photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — In order to keep up with the growing complexities of illegal drugs transport, a composite team will soon be created to study the route that is now used for the shipment of illegal drugs in Central Visayas and identify and neutralize the persons involve.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for administration of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said the composite team will also look into reports on the allege involvement of some detainees at the Cebu City Jail, National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa and the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog town, among others, in the illegal drugs trade.
On their own, Parilla said, the Philippine National Police (PNP) won’t be able to address these concerns also because of their jurisdictional limitations.
“Naa man tay [police] limitations, kay ang PNP dili mi allowed diha sa barko so in every agency kung asa sila dapita, sila’y lead agency . So like the Philippine Coastguard, the CPA will be the one leading there [ports], the PNP will support and conduct investigation or arrest and filing of cases,” Parilla said.
Quoting reports, Parilla said, illegal drugs are transported to parts of Central Visayas, including Cebu, through roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels.
These are hidden inside private vehicles. In most instances, drugs enter the ports undetected because of the “lenient” vehicle inspection protocol at the origin and arrival areas.
It is for this reason that illegal drugs are able to find its way into at least 40 different ports in Cebu City and Cebu province, he said.
“Medyo luag gyud ang atoang mga checking sa private vehicle nga gisakay og ro-ro mao na siya’y mga gigamit sa mga courier gamit ang private nga sakyanan bisag asa gikan, [for example], from Manila going to Cebu, going to Mindanao or from Mindanao going to Cebu. So luag ang atoang pag check sa mga sakyanan so mao na atoang gi coordinate on how to address this,” Parilla added.
With the creation of the composite team, the campaign against illegal drugs will be made a multi-agency effort.
The composite team will include personnel from the CCPO, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO), and the Central Visayas offices of the Philippine National Police Maritime Group, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG-7), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP-7), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7) and the Cebu Port Authority (CPA).
Parilla said its members will close coordinate with their counterparts to hopefully cover the whole of Central Visayas.
According to Parilla, the Regional Intelligence Division in Central (RID-7) is currently working to come up with guidelines on how members of the composite team can work together.
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