DESTROY METRO DRUG DENS - GMA

President Arroyo renewed yesterday her declaration of all-out war on
the illegal drug trade especially in Metro Manila, vowing not to spare
politicians or law enforcers involved in the scourge.

The President's order came as police and narcotics agents apprehended
319 people on Friday, including women and minors, and confiscated over
half a kilo of shabu, half a sack of tooters (glass pipes used to
inhale the drug) and drug money during a raid on a neighborhood in
Pasig City that served as a tiangge (flea market) where the drug could
be bought, sold and used.

Joint elements of the Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force
(AIDSOTF) and the police Special Action Force (SAF) stormed the drug
den at a 600-square-meter compound in a squatter area called Sitio
Mapayapa on F. Soriano street in Barangay Palatiw and made their
arrests at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

As this developed, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director
General Arturo Lomibao ordered police and anti-drug authorities to
widen the scope of their investigation into the existence of the
Mapayapa drug enclave, where a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera
monitoring system trained on the compound entrance was found.

Lomibao issued this order to AIDSOTF chief Director Marcelino Ele Jr.
The PNP chief also ordered Ele to hit the drug trafficking operators
in the Pasig drug tiangge and their protectors hard.

The President ordered the destruction of all drug enclaves in Metro
Manila, whether they be in slums or in affluent neighborhoods,
describing these drug dens as "nests of ruin and criminality that
should never be allowed to fester."

In an interview on Vice President Noli de Castro's radio show Para sa
Iyo... Bayan, Lomibao said an informant told them the Mapayapa drug
den "has been operating for two to three years."

He said such information "is hard to believe" and that "the police and
the local officials should do some explaining. That kind of operation
will not last that long without their knowledge."

"Politicians or law enforcers who are involved in the drug trade or
who neglect their duties should be dealt with sternly," the President
said. "The young victims should be brought in for rehabilitation while
the hard-core criminals must be prosecuted and jailed."

Many of the minors arrested at the Pasig drug den were aged between 10
and 12 and had served either as couriers for the drug pushers there or
as "spotters" who provided advance warnings if law enforcers
approached the area. They were remanded to the custody of the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The arrested
adults were brought to Camp Crame's custodian center.

"A festering drug problem signals corruption, social decay and
familial disintegration," she said. "We must wield the consolidated
power of all concerned agencies, the schools, the private sector and
the Church to bear upon this grim challenge."

Sixteen of the people arrested in Friday's raid were found to be
operators of drug shanties in the Mapayapa compound, while 56 others
were caught either sniffing or in possession of shabu.

The existence of the Mapayapa drug enclave triggered insinuations that
the illegal drug trade in Pasig City could not have prospered into a
"cottage industry" without the knowledge and willing consent of
influential persons, including police officials.

More policemen and police officials face dismissal when police
officials meet on Monday to review the investigation into the shabu
flea market now known as "Little Nicaragua," National Capital Region
Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol said.

"On Monday, we will sit down and review the report submitted by police
officials" on the matter of the Pasig drug den, Querol said in
Filipino during a telephone interview.

"On that day, we will decide who else will be sacked from the ranks of
the police force because of the incident."

"More law enforcers are sure to be sacked so the image of the police
force will not be tarnished," he added.

Querol also said the PNP will take immediate action if more Pasig City
and anti-drug law enforcers are found to have been remiss in their
duties.

Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Raul Medina said he will
let his superiors decide his fate.

"(Medina) is under investigation by the (NCRPO) and I have relieved
his personnel in the Pasig anti-illegal drugs unit but I will not stop
there. I said Medina has something to explain and (Eastern Police
District chief Director Oscar) Valenzuela will also explain," Lomibao
said.

Despite this, Medina said the Pasig police had not been remiss in
their campaign against the illegal drug trade. He said their
accomplishments and operational reports will prove that they were not
lax in their efforts to rid Pasig of illicit drugs.

Medina said it is up to the PNP leadership to decide his fate, adding
that a good soldier accepts whatever decision his superiors make.

He said he has submitted his explanation to Valenzuela, regarding the
existence of the Mapayapa drug den.

Medina said he included in his explanation all the Pasig City police's
accomplishments and operational reports on their anti-drug campaigns
for last year and this year.

Valenzuela has yet to release the findings of his investigation into
Medina's culpability with regards to the continued operation of
illicit drug traffickers in Pasig City.

Six police officers assigned to Medina's precinct were also sacked and
ordered to undergo retraining on orders of both Lomibao and Querol.

Lomibao also ordered the relief of six more personnel of the Pasig
Anti-Drug Unit for their perceived failure to monitor the shabu market
and neutralize the widespread sale of illegal drugs. These narcotics
agents were not identified.

The PNP chief has also ordered that random drug tests be conducted on
Pasig City police personnel "to see if there are any police officers"
hooked on drugs.

Lomibao also said Friday's drug raid was conducted on the strength of
a warrant issued by the Quezon City regional trial court "to ensure
that there would be no leaks" that would forewarn the drug traffickers
in the Mapayapa drug den.

"We wanted to ensure that there was no possibility of any leaks, so we
utilized personnel from the SAF in Bicutan, Taguig, the Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Traffic Management Group (TMG)
to seal the area," he said.

Querol said the dismissed police officers' "fate now hangs in the
balance. Those who failed to do their jobs will be held
accountable."

He added that he will proceed with his investigation slowly but
surely, to determine who will be held accountable for the apparently
flourishing illegal drug operations in Pasig City.

Because arrested drug pushers often get out of jail quickly and are
soon back on the streets and in the Mapayapa compound, the Pasig City
government has begun the demolition of the enclave's elaborate maze of
shanties and cubicles.

Lomibao said the PNP is verifying reports that most of the people
arrested in the Mapayapa drug raid were Muslims: "We are not sure of
that, but that's the report I received. We have to confirm that report."