MACAPAGAL - STOP BICKERING OVER WAR VS ILLEGAL DRUGS

No Sacred Cows

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered authorities to stop bickering
over who should lead the anti-drug campaign.

Ironically, the squabbling was prompted by the decision of the President to
tap former Manila policemen to lead the anti-drug war despite the existence
of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which was supposed to be
the lead agency in the campaign. The President made this point even as she
ordered not to spare the rich and famous, the high and mighty in the
campaign against illegal drugs. She wants no sacred cows.

"I am demanding that authorities conduct a top to bottom campaign that not
only targets the poor communities but also the rich and famous," the
President said.

The drug menace cuts across all social classes, according to the President.

"Our campaign must be total and blind to wealth or social status. It shall
not spare the high and mighty from the force of law," she said.

She said the problem of illegal drugs was too serious for the nation to be
divided on the issue.

"The war against drugs must be waged in the streets and communities and not
reflected in bickering within our institutions of governance," she said.

After informally tapping Sen. Robert Barbers as anti-drug czar, former
Interior Secretary Alfredo Lim was appointed presidential anti-drug
adviser, although Interior Secretary Jose Lina chairs the Dangerous Drugs
Board and Anselmo Avenido Jr. heads the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

After some confusing statements in the previous days, presidential
spokesperson Ignacio Bunye yesterday clarified that PDEA remained the
principal enforcement agency. He said other groups tapped for the anti-drug
campaign should coordinate with the PDEA.DDB overhaul

But Bunye hinted of a possible overhaul in the DDB. "The DDB chair is not
ex-officio which means that it does not have to be the DILG (Department of
Interior and Local Government) Secretary," Bunye said at a briefing in
Malacanang.

This was Bunye's reply when queried on the fate of Lina whose position as
DDB head had been undermined by the President's decision to invite Barbers
and his colleagues at Manila's Western Police District-Lim, ex-Col. Rey
Jaylo and ex-Maj. Lucio Margallo-to the crusade.

Bunye explained that both the DDB and Barbers (as chair of the Senate
committee on illegal drugs) would have oversight powers on the PDEA.
Barbers and Lim would act as advisers to the program, the presidential
spokesperson said.

Bunye said the appointment papers of Lim (as presidential adviser for
illegal drugs) and Jaylo and Margallo (as directors of the PDEA's special
operations group) were still being finalized.

While Lim has already recruited local government officials known for their
strong arm tactics against drug pushers, Lim said that it was better for
the advisers to wait a while for their appointments before taking any action.

Clarifying the roles of the different government agencies involved in the
renewed war against illegal drugs will be tackled by the National Anti-Drug
Summit today, according to Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco, chair of the
House committee on dangerous drugs.

Lim denied that there was a turf war between him and the PDEA.

"There's no truth in that; we're quite surprised about those turf war
reports," Lim said in his weekday afternoon radio program 'Aksyon Ngayon,'
aired over dzMM.

Lim, a former National Bureau of Investigation director, theorized that the
reports on turf war were floated by drug lords and their allies made
nervous by the government's launching of a no-nonsense battle against
illegal drugs.

With reports from Gil Cabacungan Jr. and Jhunnex Napallacan