PDEA SWARMED WITH TIPS AFTER P1M BOUNTY OFFER

It is perhaps because people want to become a millionaire that the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is receiving a deluge of reports on
suspicious buildings that may turn out to be laboratories of shabu.

Anselmo Avenido, PDEA chief and chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board,
earlier offered bounty of up to a million pesos to an informant who can
lead authorities to shabu laboratories or perpetrators of illegal drugs.

"Kun ang usa ka tawo makatudlo og shabu laboratory mahimo na siyang
milyonaryo. Apan bisan og dili shabu laboratory, duna gihapo'y cash
reward," was how Avenido announced the who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire come-on.

It now appears that the dangle for bounty worked because as of yesterday,
the PDEA office received a deluge of raw and still unverified reports on
suspicious establishments in different areas of Metro Cebu.

Avenido said that even if the report yielded negative results, Avenido took
this in a positive light saying it was an indication that people are now
involved.

"Bisan og negative ang reports nga among nadawat dihang gihimoan namo og
follow-up, apan maayo kini nga indikasyon nga daghan na ang mga tawo nga
nagpakabana karon batok sa kampanya sa illegal nga drugas," Avenido said.

Informants reported of the suspicious activities inside buildings when they
noticed the emission of foul-stinging odors, the buildings were enclosed in
high perimeter fences and there was frequent flow of vehicles in and out of
the compound.

The PDEA director general said his men continue to pursue evidence against
the local businessmen who supplied the 11 shabu manufacturers with
ingredients for the making of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu. These
businessmen will face charges.

Barangay officials of Looc and Umapad, and some personnel from the Mandaue
City treasurer's office have already appeared before the Office of the
Ombudsman-Visayas when they were summoned for the investigation.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier said Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo
Ouano and his subordinate executive officials might have committed "serious
administrative lapses" when city hall personnel failed to inspect the
warehouses that were reportedly turned into laboratories for manufacturing
shabu.

Ouano ordered the investigation of his personnel where those found guilty
will be meted with stiff sanctions.

Santiago said officials of barangay Paknaan, personnel from the city's
assessor and engineering departments and from the Securities and Exchange
Commission, will similarly be summoned this week.

Ouano said that under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the
task of local executives in the campaign against the illegal drugs is only
to allocate a budget that could be used in the rehabilitation of drug
dependents and seminars on drug awareness.

In a related development, Avenido said his men would continue to secure the
shabu laboratory in barangay Umapad even after the shabu found here were
burned on Friday.

Avenido also said his personnel are already prepared to prosecute the cases
filed against the 12 suspected shabu manufacturers, 11 of them are now
detained at the Mandaue City jail. Alleged financier named Calvin De Jesus
Tan is now under detention in Hong Kong.

Allan Garcia, one of those detained, confided to Dangerous Drugs Committee
chairman Rep. Roque Ablan and member Rep. Antonio Cuenco said that it was
Tan who financed shabu making operation in Mandaue City.

Hong Kong authorities arrested Tan with a few packs of shabu and cocaine
while he was about to leave for Macau on September 29, or five days after
the shabu laboratory in Mandaue City was raided by the police.

The PDEA director general said his office has enough evidence to indict
suspected shabu manufacturers. The documents include footages taken while
the anti-drug agents were doing surveillance operations until the raid was
hatched.