ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN HAS YET TO PRODUCE RESULTS

Sometime ago, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. said he
would make public the names of persons behind the 13 transnational
syndicates and 175 local drug groups operating in the country. Later, he
said that he could not mention their names because there was not enough
evidence to arrest them and charge them in court. So far, the only
prominent drug trafficker that has been arrested is Frank Chua alias Tsai
Jung Shui who was already sentenced to life imprisonment by the Vigan City
Regional Trial Court nine years ago! Chua managed to escape imprisonment
before he was sentenced. He was arrested while he was resting in his
favorite restaurant inside Subic Bay. His three so-accused are still at
large. So the present campaign against drugs has not produced any new
arrests. It has just caught up with a drug lord that escaped prison almost
two decades ago.

At the same time, National Police Chief Deputy Director General for
Administration Edgardo Aglipay who was tapped by Malacanang to head the
police in its fight against illegal drugs has admitted that one of the
greatest problems in the war against drugs are high-profile government and
police officials who intentionally white-wash the investigation of arrested
drug manufacturers and pushers.

National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Abdane added that
policemen or investigators handling cases of arrested drug pushers very
often do not appear to testify in court against prosecuted drug lords so
the judge and the prosecutor have to dismiss their cases.

He said that policemen who protect drug lords will be criminally charged
and they will face six to 12 years imprisonment.

As we said, to this moment the government anti-drug campaign has had no
results.

Everyone knows the problem.

It is the drug lords and corrupt policemen.

But has anyone heard of a drug lord or policeman that has been arrested?

So the campaign has been limited to press releases.

In the meantime, we have 3.4 million drug addicts.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has even ordered the construction of more
prisons and rehabilitation centers to accommodate the drug users that will
be arrested, prosecuted and convicted.

Obviously, it is easier to provide prisons and rehabilitation centers than
to arrest and convict drug dealers and users.

We have 3.4 million drug users who know where to buy drugs. And we believe
that even non-drug users can easily find a source of drugs if they just
posed as drug users.

But somehow all of the drug pushers and dealers are not known to the police.

Can anyone really believe this situation? As the saying goes, "None are so
blind as those who do not want to see." The truth is that there is a lot of
money in drugs.

A great part of it goes to persons who cover up for the people involved in
this illegal vice.

We should get a daily report on the number of drug dependents and dealers
that are arrested everyday.

It looks as if there are none.