OMBUDSMAN TO PROBE PASIG DRUG TIANGGE

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said yesterday her office will conduct
a motu proprio probe of the shabu "tiangge" case in Pasig City to
determine if there was negligence on the part of local government officials.

Gutierrez said the probe, which will be conducted by a task force,
will also try to establish if local government officials and the
police had long been aware of the existence of the "shabu flea market"
in the city and merely tolerated its operation.

"We will try to find out if they will be liable administratively and
criminally," she told reporters yesterday.

Last Friday police raided the shabu flea market located in a
600-square-meter compound in Sitio Mapayapa, F. Soriano Street,
Barangay Palatiw in Pasig City.

The area, police said, has been the site of rampant shabu trading and
addicts there pay a fee to use the shanties for their drug sessions.

Police seized some P4 million worth of shabu or methamphetamine
hydrochloride and arrested 313 suspected drug pushers and users during
the raid, more than half of them minors.

Following the raid, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief
Anselmo Avenido also ordered the relief of his entire Eastern Police
District anti-illegal drugs team.

Meanwhile, Malacanang warned law enforcers yesterday that they would
be immediately dismissed and prosecuted, if necessary, if they fail to
curb the drug trafficking activities in their respective
jurisdictions.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the dismissal of the police
officials, including 25 members of the Pasig police and six PDEA
agents, "signals the firm resolve of the government to discipline
errant cops who fail in their duty to fight crime and protect our
people." - With Paolo Romero, Non Alquitran, Cecille Suerte Felipe