PNP HELPLESS IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS: ROSEBUD

ANGELES -- Mary "Rosebud" Ong said Friday that the Philippine National
Police (PNP) or any law enforcement agency are made helpless in the battle
against illegal drugs by the involvement of top government officials in the
highly-lucrative trade.

Ong said that the illegal drugs trade is a spin-off from the Binondo
Central Bank during the Marcos era when nine Chinese businessmen earned
billions in dollars salting and laundering money in violation of government
restrictions.

Ong bared this in a forum on illegal drugs organized by the Pampanga
Tri-Media Association (PATMA) headed by Hannah Bauzon Tulud, and the
Citizens Crime Watch (CCW-Pampanga) chaired by Jun Sia in Angeles City last
Thursday.

Aside from causing drug addiction of over 2.2 million Filipinos, the shabu
trade is seen to heavily affect the economy and would become widely felt in
ten years' time, Ong said.

Large volumes of commodities such as clothes, toys, electronic radios,
recorders, kitchen utensils, etc., are stuffed into container vans used in
shipping shabu or ephedrine into the country.

Ong said that this threatens to increase unemployment because local
manufacturers are expected to close shop with the stiff competition posed
by the imported items.

According to Ong, the commodities are sold in the market at very low prices
that cannot be matched by local manufacturers because importers already
make large profits out of the drug cargo. The commodities used as stuffing
for the drugs are peddled in the streets at lower than their purchase cost
in China.

She explained that ephedrine, a vital component in the manufacture of
shabu, or shabu itself, is smuggled into the country in very great volumes.

Ong also revealed that the big drug traders mostly come from China and are
not naturalized Filipinos. She said that their entry into the Philippines
becomes legal with the help of Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID)
officials.

Unscrupulous officials of the Bureau of Investments (BOI) also rake in
their part of the action by issuing fake special investors visas without
depositing the required $75,000 remittance in local banks.

Illegal aliens also take advantage of a business set up by the Chinese in
partnership with Philippine military officials and politicians.

With a P200,000 investment in the company, the Chinese can avail of the
special investors visas.

The drug trade, in the Philippines, according to Ong, is unstoppable
because of the involvement of the powerful and mighty high government
officials, military and police officials, prosecutors, judges and lawyers.

Fearing the wrath of their bosses if they apprehend and pursue cases
against drug pushers, this situation has instead encouraged many people in
uniform to become protectors or investors.