RP, US HOLD 'NARCO-TERRORISM' TRAINING IN CORDILLERA

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet-Agents of the US Drug Enforcement
Agency (USDEA) and their Filipino counterparts from the regional
military and police commands, as well as the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Cordillera Administration Region,
started on Monday a 26-day training against "narco-terrorism."

Called "Baker Piston 04-2," the training involved a total of 110
participants, according to officials.

The venue is the Philippine Military Academy, where military personnel
and policemen, in particular, would be trained on how to effectively
assist the PDEA in the campaign against illegal drugs.

Police have admitted that the Cordilleras supply 70 percent of the
marijuana and marijuana products being used by illegal drug users nationwide.

Chief Supt. Rowland Albano, the Cordillera regional police director,
told a press briefing that Filipino policemen and soldiers as well as
the PDEA agents would be taught how to identify and preserve evidence
as well as how to gather intelligence reports and establish linkages
with other concerned public and private groups.

Albano also told reporters the joint training was the culmination of a
long-time plan of the police and military regional commands as well as
the office of the PDEA in the Cordilleras.

Albano expressed optimism the training would benefit immensely those
involved in the antidrug campaign in the region.

In Camp Allen in Baguio City, Lt. Col. Elias Escharca, the group
commander of the Armed Forces Civil Relations Service for the Ilocos
and Cordilleras, reported that coordination with the local government
units and the community was conducted before the training started.

"It will not disrupt the residents in the local communities since the
training would take place in classrooms," Escharca assured.

From the Cordilleras, the Usdea agents are to hold similar training
sessions in Davao City.

Earlier, PNP Deputy Director Virtus Gil, the former Cordillera police
regional director, supported the plan to hold such training in the
region.

Gil noted that the Cordilleras supply the bulk of the marijuana
produced in the country and shipped clandestinely from the Mt.
Province, Benguet, Kalinga and Ifugao.