Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2002
Source: Sunstar Pangasinan (Philippines)
Copyright: 2002 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/news/news_article_affiliate.php3?id=13842
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1726
Author: Dante M. Fabian

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.
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