UNIFIER NEEDED AT PNP

We have long asserted that unless we "hermetically seal" our porous
borders, add more teeth and put more muscle to our drug-interdiction
efforts, and end inter-agency rivalries, the war against illegal drugs
would continue to be waged but never won.

The first is a tough task, the country being archipelagic and having
one of the longest coastlines in the world. Our Navy and Coast Guard
would need modern communications and tracking equipment and fast
attack boats to go after drug dealers smuggling the contraband into
the country by sea.

The second is being accomplished through the work of the Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Director Anselmo Avenido and the
Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine
National Police headed by PNP Deputy Director General Edgardo B. Aglipay.

The third had recently been achieved with the change of assignment of
PDEA deputy director Reynaldo Jaylo, who now heads an anti-illegal
recruitment task force. Jaylo and Avenido had been locked in an ugly
word war that sapped morale within the lower echelons of the PDEA.

The death of that Manila cop who was "executed" by assassins of local
drug lords after warning "retailers" engaging in the door-to-door
delivery of "shabu" (methamphetamine hydrochloride) should have
shocked law enforcement top brass into cracking the whip and
dismantling the local drug syndicates and their foreign
confederates.

While Avenido's work has been undermined by his feud with Jaylo,
Aglipay's campaign against drug traffickers and their lethal
merchandise seems to be more effective because Aglipay's men did not
have to contend with warring commanders at the top.

That is why, AIDSOTF chalked up spectacular gains over the past few
months against the drug syndicates which are making a killing out of
the P250-billion-a-year illicit trade.

His task force had arrested three of the top eight drug lords--all of
them from mainland China--and neutralized a fourth (whose eighth most
powerful henchmen had been taken into custody). His foreign liaisoning
work had also enabled Malaysian narcotics authorities to arrest
another confederate.

In this sense, Aglipay, currently number three (deputy director for
operations) in the PNP hierarchy, could make a good candidate for the
next chief of the PNP.

President Arroyo, as commander-in-chief, alone has the sole
prerogative to appoint the PNP chief under the Constitution, and as
things stand, there is no constitutional constraint for Aglipay to be
named PNP chief to replace Hermogenes Ebdane, who was reported to opt
for early retirement to accept another government post.

In a recent commentary, constitutionalist Joaquin Bernas said under a
new law, any officer of the PNP who has less than one year of service
before reaching the mandatory age of retirement is not barred from
being appointed to the top PNP post.

Earlier, Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida had said there was no
legal impediment for Aglipay to succeed Ebdane as his possible
appointment would not violate the law.

Aglipay, a member of the Philippine Military Class '71, is set to
retire on September 13.