RP, CHINA JOIN FORCES AGAINST ILLEGAL DRUGS

THE PHILIPPINES and China have agreed to exchange vital information on
illegal drug operations which could lead to more drug busts here as
most drug traffickers arrested in the country were Chinese, according
to Undersecretary Jose Calida, executive director of the Dangerous
Drugs Board.

The Chinese government's Narcotics Control Bureau has also agreed to
help set up an information network among Asian countries in or near
the Golden Triangle area of Burma, Laos and Thailand, said Calida who
returned on Sunday from the 2nd Annual Training and Project Status
Meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Beijing.

"The Chinese government's cooperation in our anti-drugs operation
would surely have a positive impact," he said.

The new agreement follows an earlier one between then Interior
Secretary Jose Lina Jr. and the NCB in August 2003 under which the two
countries agreed to conduct and coordinate joint anti-illegal drug
operations and to set up workplaces for the PDEA in Beijing and for
the NCB in Manila.

The new agreement involves, among other things, the updating of data
concerning drug syndicates operating in China and the region, said
Calida.

He said he used the conference to debunk international perceptions
that the Philippines had become a major manufacturer of illegal
substances like methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu; Ecstasy, an
amphetamine-type stimulant, and heroin.

He said this mistaken perception came about because of the confessions
extracted from a number of drug traffickers who had been arrested abroad.