ILLEGAL DRUGS AFFECT OVER HALF OF COTABATO CITY, SAYS PDEA

COTABATO CITY - At least 20 of the 37 villages in this city have been
affected by illegal drugs, the latest report of the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM) has bared.

Supt. Donardo Torres, PDEA-ARMM chief, said his office's report from
January to July showed that seven villages are placed under Category
II, or less seriously affected, while 13 others are in Category III,
or threatened to be affected.

Torres explained that under Category II, affected areas have 1.0
percent to 2.49 percent of the local residents as drug dependents,
while those in Category III have less than 1 percent of the populace
as drug dependents.

Villages under Category II include Poblacion Mother, Poblacion 2,
Poblacion 7, Bagua 2, Bagua 3, Bagua Mother and Tamontaka Mother.

Under Category III, on the other hand, are Poblacion I, Poblacion 3,
Poblacion 6, Rosary Heights 2, Rosary Heights 5, Rosary Heights 7,
Rosary Heights 8, Rosary Heights 9, Rosary Heights 10, Rosary Heights
12, Rosary Heights Mother, Bagua I and Kalanganan Mother.

Torres also reported that they have arrested about 46 drug pushers and
28 users in their campaign against the proliferation of illegal drugs
here.

In their series of raids in the same period, 52.7 grams of shabu with
a street value of P105,400 and 2,500 grams of dried marijuana leaves
with a street value of P167,900 were confiscated, Torres added.

Meanwhile, a PDEA official in Central Luzon described the drug
situation in that region as serious despite significant gains and
achievements in the past few months.

PDEA Central Luzon Director Supt. Jerome Baxinela explained that two
individuals replace every drug pusher arrested by PDEA operatives, and
these replacements are henchmen of drug lords.

"These people are mere henchmen of drug lords or financiers and are
expendable as they can easily be replaced by two more. We need to get
to the 'big fish' to stop drug operations in Central Luzon," Baxinela
said in an interview in Clark Field, Pampanga, on Sunday.

The PDEA regional chief said there were originally 22 local drug
groups when the agency was set up in Central Luzon. However, the
number has been cut down to only seven after PDEA operations
neutralized 15 earlier.

Baxinela also said that PDEA-CL has only to contend with local drug
lords and not transnational drug groups. He said as far as they know,
the local groups do not have transnational backup groups.

Of the seven provinces in Central Luzon, Tarlac and Bulacan have the
highest number of drug cases based on apprehensions and operations
conducted by the PDEA.

He added that Barangay Antidrug abuse Councils (Badacs) in the region
have a list of at least 3,000 identified drug users.

But Baxinela stressed that this is just the tip of the iceberg as he
cited national figures revealing that at least 1.8 million people are
regular drug users, while 1.6 million are occasional users.

This results in a national figure of 3.4 million as of 2001, a far cry
from the 20,000 users in 1972 during the issuance of Republic Act
6425, or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972. Then, marijuana was the most
common drug abused.

"The past 30 years has registered a substantial increase that shows RA
6425 was not that effective," he said.

He said RA 9165, or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, has outlined
stiffer penalties for offenders and has done away with the quantity of
drugs on an apprehended individual, citing Section 5 of the act that
makes mere drug possession nonbailable.

Under RA 9165, first offenders are put under rehabilitation, such as
the Central Luzon Drug Rehabilitation Center in Magalang town, Pampanga.

However, repeat offenders are jailed for a maximum of six
years.

Baxinela said the main drug being peddled by these drug lords now is
shabu, a substance that he said has become very popular among pushers
and users alike. Marijuana comes second.

Shabu sells for P2,000 to P2,500 per gram, while marijuana for P10 per
gram. Shabu sources include Metro Manila and Cavite in the Southern
Tagalog Region.

However, Baxinela said the price of shabu has increased over the past
few months because of the scarcity of the pure or high-grade form of
the drug.