ARROYO NOTES UN WARNING ON DRUGS IN RP

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday acknowledged with open mind
what she referred to as a reminder made by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) about the country's worsening problem of drug
trafficking and addiction, especially among young people.

The President made the humble acknowledgment as she commended police
operatives who raided another shabu warehouse in Valenzuela City operated
by suspected drug trafficker Jimmy Coo Huo and his other cohorts, who are
now the subject of a police manhunt operation.

"We have pushed the drug menace far back but we take the UN report as a
reminder that there is more to be done," she said in an official press
statement, referring to the UNODC report indicating that the Philippines is
one of the world's three largest producers of methamphetamine hydrochloride
or shabu.

The UN report further claimed that the manufacture of shabu in the country
has already reached as far as Australia and the United States, adding that
Filipinos are considered to be fourth biggest consumers of shabu despite
the government's anti-drug campaign.

Mrs. Arroyo is seeking to attain a drug-free Philippines by 2010 through
the strict enforcement of the country's anti-illegal drugs laws led by the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Government statistics showed that in 2003, law enforcers were able to
dismantle at least 19 shabu laboratories, neutralized 143 local drug
syndicates and 12 transnational drug syndicates, arrested 23,000 drug
pushers, and dismissed 249 policemen linked to illegal drug activities.

In its campaign against illegal drugs, the Arroyo administration has been
boasting of having arrested a total of 101,976 persons, filed 66,468 cases
in various courts, and confiscated illegal drugs and paraphernalia valued
at about R20.455 billion from 2001 to 2003.

The Chief Executive said the government will continue to pursue vigorously
its anti-drug campaign by coordinating with its international allies
intelligence information and enhancing capabilities about illegal drug
trafficking locally and abroad.

"The drug problem has been half-beaten and the street price of amphetamines
has gone up almost five fold. We will keep moving against drug
manufacturers and distributors as we team up with our international allies.
This is not only a domestic problem but one that we share with the rest,"
she said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane
Jr. has proclaimed that the year 2003 was a banner year for the
government's campaign against illegal drugs, including the arrest of Ronnie
Mitra, former municipal mayor of Panukulan, Quezon, for alleged drug
trafficking.