PDEA MONITORING PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN DRUG ACTIVITIES

DAGUPAN -- The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will go after
anybody, even a high government official, if he is involved in illegal
drugs.

Chief Insp. Christopher Abrahano, PDEA provincial officer, said they
have a list of public officials who are allegedly involved in the drug
trade and "we have been monitoring them."

He refused to identify them.

Moreover, he said, drug use in Pangasinan has dropped this year as
compared to last year.

Abrahano issued the assessment as he said the number of drug users
decreased by 70 percent based on the list of drug-affected barangays
in the province.

He cited the skyrocketing price of shabu and the scarcity of the
prohibited drug as one reason behind the lessening number of drug users.

"In 2002, the price of shabu per gram was only P700 but now, it is
already P3,000 per gram," he said.

Abrahano said this was the result of the continuous operations of the
PDEA and the provincial police against drug personalities in Pangasinan.

The PDEA provincial officer cited the need to arrest the owner of a
house of building used as a drug den.

He made the statement in reaction to a report that the police could
not arrest the owners of drug dens, except those coming from the place.

"It is only that the drug den owners have not been caught in the act
so they are being arrested, but they are included in their operation,"
he said.

Abrahano said the local police have been coordinating with the PDEA
when they are conducting anti-drug operation.