MASSIVE CRACKDOWN ON ALL METRO MANILA DRUG LAIRS ORDERED

President Arroyo yesterday ordered a massive crackdown on all drug
enclaves in Metro Manila as well as the imposition of harsher
punishment for government officials or law enforcers involved in the
illegal drug trade.

The President issued the directive a day after police narcotics agents
raided a "shabu" bazaar in a shanty neighborhood in Pasig City and
rounded up as many as 300 suspects.

"I order the police to clean up all drug enclaves in the metropolis,
whether they are in the slums or the affluent neighborhoods. These are
nests of ruin and criminality that should never be allowed to fester,"
she said in a statement.

"Politicians or law enforcers who are involved in the drug trade or
who neglect their duties should be dealt with sternly," she added.

The President said the young victims should be rehabilitated while the
hardened criminals must be prosecuted and jailed. Mrs. Arroyo also
appealed to various sectors to help the government's campaign to
eliminate the drug menace in the country, saying a "festering drug
problem signals corruption, social decay and familial
disintegration."

"We must wield the consolidated power of all concerned agencies, the
schools, the private sector and the church to bear upon this grim
challenge," she said.

Last Friday, around 150 policemen conducted a raid on some 100
shanties, which offered drug menus to clients, in barangay Sto. Tomas,
Pasig City.

They seized millions of pesos worth of shabu, several drug
paraphernalia and assorted firearms from the "one-stop-shop" of the
illegal drug during the raid.

The shabu bazaar has reportedly been in operation for three
years.

On the economic front, the President yesterday projected the peso to
further appreciate and break the R50 to the US dollar level in the
coming weeks due to market optimism on government fiscal reforms.

"The natural price of the peso is actually below ," she said in a
roundtable discussion with government and private banking authorities
in Malacanang.

The peso surged to 51.48 to the dollar last Friday, its strongest
finish since August 2002. The local currency began its dazzling run
late last year due to swelling dollar remittances abroad and bullish
investor confidence.

Mrs. Arroyo also tried to assuage the concerns of exporters, who
normally benefit from a higher exchange rate, and told them to plan
ahead using the projected exchange rate. Reports earlier said
Philippine merchandise exports grew by 3.9 percent to .22 billion in
2005, less than half the government's target of eight percent.