GLO TO NAME RP'S TOP DRUG SYNDICATES TODAY

THE President will name the country's top drug syndicates during her
Monday's State of the Nation Address (Sona) and start her all out war
against drug syndicates.

"In my Sona, I will identify these syndicates which I consider a threat to
national security," the Chief Executive said in Filipino Saturday.

President Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement was apparently part of her
administration's new campaigns for next year, which are peace and order and
corruption.

She admitted that drug syndicates indeed corrupt public officials all over
the country paying them off with drug money "to blind them" from illegal
activities.

"The illegal drug industry-which covers the drug manufacturing, drug
trafficking, and the corruption of public officials-is one of the biggest
problem of our country," the President said.

More than anything, she said the drug menace has been responsible for the
slow destruction of the society's most basic unit, the family.

"There are many families in the country that have been destroyed because one
member-usually a child-was a victim of drugs.

The President's solution to the drug problem, the full implementation of the
Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, and the creation of the new and
revitalized Dangerous Drugs Board, which Senator Vicente Sotto III will
oversee.

Sotto, the President said, has accepted the job she offered, but maintained
that he would be "working closely with the Administration without resigning
from the Senate."

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye reiterated that the drug problem is part of
the campaign to maintain peace and order in the country, which is twined
with her anti-terrorism thrust.

"The President will ask Congress to pass the anti-terrorism bill when she
speaks before the country on Monday," he said.

Just the other day, the Philippine National Police was able to close down a
major illegal drug laboratory in a posh village in Quezon City.

About 104 kilos of shabu were captured together with other raw materials and
paraphernalia for drug production. Six Chinese nationals and three Filipinos
were also arrested.

The huge drug bust, which the President lauded, coincided with the Chief
Executive's creation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA),
headed by a former official under the Estrada Administration.