A NEW ANTI-DRUG CZAR

As tension rose between government prosecutors and agents of the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, President Arroyo announced
yesterday that she would temporarily take over the anti-drug
campaign. She risks being blamed if the drug problem is perceived to
worsen or remain the same during her takeover. But by the time she
relinquishes supervision of the campaign, the inter-agency tension
should have subsided and there should be better coordination among
all the law enforcement agencies involved in fighting drug trafficking.

While she is micromanaging this campaign, the President will be
expected to do several things. One is to weed out misfits and plug
opportunities for corruption in the prosecution service. This will
require speeding up the resolution of the controversy surrounding the
arrest and proposed release of three drug suspects apprehended by
PDEA agents, and to impose punishment where appropriate.

Resolving the case must include making PDEA agent Marine Maj.
Ferdinand Marcelino identify his fellow Philippine Military Academy
alumnus who supposedly offered a bribe. That person should face
criminal charges for bribery, but Marcelino said he knew his "mistah"
to be a good man and refused to identify the briber. PDEA officials
also admitted that they had made up the story about a P50-million
bribe to prosecutors, which was leaked to the press.

Inventing stories, planting evidence and hurling fake accusations is
hardly the way to conduct an anti-crime campaign, whether it is
against corruption or drug trafficking. As anti-drug czar, President
Arroyo should require PDEA agents to have full knowledge of all laws
governing illegal drugs, as well as all laws and regulations
governing arrests, searches, raids and confiscation of evidence. As
indignant prosecutors have pointed out, many drug cases are dismissed
not because of corruption but because anti-narcotics agents do not
know the law and bungle the operation. The PDEA itself has had its
share of controversies in the past, from corruption to the pilferage
of confiscated drugs and direct involvement of its agents in drug trafficking.

A serious anti-drug campaign should also strengthen the capability of
the Philippine National Police, whose members have more knowledge of
the Dangerous Drugs Act and the rules governing the conduct of
anti-crime operations than the military officers and ex-coup plotters
assigned to handle police work at the PDEA.

Finally, the anti-drug campaign should include improving facilities
for rehabilitating drug offenders. The harshest penalties should be
reserved for large-scale traffickers, most of whom seem to elude
those much-hyped raids on shabu laboratories. Drug abuse is a social
problem that requires a coordinated social response.