PUBLIC BURNING, SHAME CAMPAIGN IN ANTI-DRUGS DRIVE

MANILA - President Arroyo on Wednesday ordered weekly public
burnings of illegal drugs seized by the police, as well as the
publication of mugshots of arrested drug dealers.

"Let us put a face and identity to these people and get the public
involved in hunting them down," Arroyo said in a statement that
detailed fresh initiatives in her highly publicized war on illegal
drugs.

She ordered police to publish pictures, names and aliases, passport
numbers, immigration records and addresses of "every personality
suspected to be involved in a drug case."

Arroyo said the campaign has led to "discoveries of large stocks of
shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride, a stimulant also known as "ice")
as a result of the cooperation of the public."

She ordered narcotics police "to set aside a regular day of the week
for the public burning of drugs, raw materials or precursors so that
these cannot be recycled for the illicit market by unscrupulous law
enforcers.

"I want a strict accounting of drugs confiscated and drugs destroyed
to the last gram," she said.

"Once charges are filed covering a drug stash, the latter must be
immediately destroyed, save for the amount needed to be used as
evidence in court."

Police announced late last month that nearly 16,000 people, including
a number of alleged Chinese and Japanese drug dealers, had been
arrested over the past year.

Arroyo in June announced a heightened anti-drug campaign that she said
was inspired by the crackdown launched by Thailand's Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Thai leader declared a war against drugs in February and
proclaimed the results as a success despite an outcry from human
rights groups over the draconian methods used.

Police said at least 70 percent of all crimes in the country were
drug-related. They said drug users number up to two million in a
population of 80 million.

Authorities have said 175 international and local drug gangs operate
in the country.