MEASLY BUDGET HOUNDS PNP NARCOTICS GROUP

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga - The economics of eradicating illegal drugs,
the top national threat, weighs too heavily on the Philippine National
Police's Narcotics Group (Narcgroup).

With only a 15-million-peso budget this year and an estimated 1.5
million regular users of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) alone
last year, the Narcgroup could only afford to spend 10 pesos for each
victim.

The budget problem becomes more disturbing because there are 2.5
million occasional users of shabu in the country, according to Chief
Supt. Ruben Cabagnot, Narcgroup deputy director for
administration.

Cabagnot noted the measly budget and its disproportion to the number
of victims in an interview after he led Monday's ceremony installing
Supt. Carlos Joaquin as the new Narcgroup director in Central Luzon.

"Despite the magnitude of the problem, (Narcgroup) has one of the
smallest budgets in the PNP," Cabagnot said.

He said the current 15-million-peso budget was thrice lower than the
47 million pesos that the command received annually from 1990 to 1996.

According to him, the Narcgroup needs 50 million pesos next year to
effectively deal with the problem of illegal drugs.

He said independent surveys showed that the ages of shabu users ranged
from the early teens to the late 30s. Most are men belonging to the C
and D economic classes, he said.

"Those in the A and B classes are not totally exempted," he
added.

Metro Manila, he said, is the "most problematic" region because most
illegal drugs manufacturers, users and pushers are based in the area.

Southern Tagalog comes next because it is the regular route of
big-time shipments of illegal drugs, while Central Luzon ranks third
because of its proximity to Metro Manila.

While there is no factual basis yet to establish that local officials
are involved in the illegal drug trade, the arrest of a mayor in
Quezon last year indicated that "there may really be several
politicians who are in cahoots with drug lords," Cabagnot said.

He said the arrest of Chinese in several big drug hauls last year also
showed that shabu came mainly from China, especially from the southern
provinces of Fujian and Hunan, where ephedra, the base of ephedrine
used in processing shabu, is grown.

Shabu manufacturers in these provinces make Hong Kong and the
Philippines their regular shipment destinations.

Cabagnot said the Philippines' long coastline was favorable to drug
smugglers.

He said chemicals and equipment for shabu were also flown into the
country, as shown in the paraphernalia seized from a shabu laboratory
in San Juan, Metro Manila, on Jan. 18.