'USE EX-MAYOR'S ANTI-DRUG SCHEME'

A Manila councilor urged local officials to adopt a former mayor's
campaign that curtailed drug pushing in the city.

Veteran Manila Councilor Bernardito Ang yesterday urged the city
government and local police force to reinforce former city mayor
Senator Alfredo Lim's "shame campaign," which included painting signs
on the residences of suspected drug pushers that read, "a drug dealer
lives here."

"The very tough stance adopted by former Mayor Lim in fiercely
confronting the drug menace in the city is badly needed now as there
seems to be a resurgence of this illegal trade in several cities and
municipalities of the metropolis," Ang told Standard Today.

Despite the protests of human rights groups, Manila's City Council,
then headed by current Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, affirmed Lim's
scheme and passed a city ordinance legalizing the measure.

"The results of Lim's move more than silenced critics about his
campaign. Manila was then declared drug-free, and notorious drug
peddlers and their cohorts scampered out of the city for fear of their
lives," Ang explained.

The councilor's suggestion comes on the heels of a recent raid on a
"shabu den" in Pasig City and the Manila Police District's saturation
drive targeted at suspected drug dealers and peddlers in the Quiapo
district, known as "Vietnam."

As this developed, a police informer who requested anonymity told
Standard Today "that Manila police elements are not doing anything to
stop the illegal drug trade going on in other places inside the city."

The source claimed that operators of so-called drug marts where shabu,
marijuana and other illegal substances are being openly sold are being
cuddled by officials and allowing their unabated operation. According
to him, this area, dubbed as the "airport," can be found in Tondo
District 2 and at the Parola and Baseco compounds in Tondo District 1.