NO HEADWAY IN THIS CAMPAIGN

The campaign against drug trafficking has become one of the main priorities
of the Arroyo administration. A report this week, however, gives an
indication of the government's uphill fight. The crime watchdog Citizens'
DrugWatch Foundation reported that 249 police officers have been
apprehended in recent months for drug-related offenses, with 28 arrested in
entrapment operations. The highest ranking officer was a senior inspector
in the Baguio City police force. And the second highest ranking was an
inspector assigned to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA, who
was caught allegedly in possession of two kilos of shabu at the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport in July last year.

Filipinos have long suspected that law enforcers themselves are involved in
the illicit drug trade. Otherwise, why do the biggest drug dealers always
manage to elude arrest during raids? Why do suspected drug traffickers
manage to walk out of detention even from Camp Crame, headquarters of the
Philippine National Police? Why do the Chinese and Hong Kong triads manage
to thrive in the Philippines despite what the public is told are sustained
crackdowns on international drug rings?

That 249 is an alarming figure, especially when it includes at least one
ranking officer assigned to the main law enforcement agency tasked to go
after drug dealers. The PDEA has not been without controversy. In just two
years of existence, some of its men have been accused of summary execution,
shakedown of foreigners and, yes, drug trafficking. But the PDEA merely
reflects the rot in all law enforcement agencies. The rot has allowed drug
traffickers to always stay a step ahead of the law.

The problem is compounded by sheer police incompetence that forces judges
to dismiss drug cases on technicalities or insufficiency of evidence. Then
there are judges who are themselves corrupt, as pointed out by the Citizens
DrugWatch Foundation. These judges waste painstaking police work by
ordering the release of big-time drug traffickers for the flimsiest of
reasons. Unless such weaknesses in the criminal justice system are
remedied, no campaign against drug trafficking will ever make headway.