ILLEGAL drugs remain as the leading destroyer of lives in the Philippines with a total of 3.3 million regular and occasional users from age 25 to 34, the National Security Council was told Tuesday. Briefing the council, the Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo T. Reyes said 1.8 million are regular users of illegal drugs; 1.6 million are occasional users, and that these users belong mostly to the lower socioeconomic classes. DILG data also showed that foreigners dominate illegal drug trafficking. [continues 124 words]
President Arroyo will not ask her son, Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo of Pampanga, to withdraw his support for a proposed law legalizing the use of marijuana. Ignacio Bunye, the President's spokesman, said Mrs. Arroyo respects the independence of her son. "He [Rep. Juan Miguel Arro-yo] has his right to speak his own mind," Bunye said, noting that the younger Arroyo's view "must be considered and respected like all views expressed in democratic debate." Arroyo is one of 50 lawmakers who support the proposal of Rep. Solomon Chungalao of Ifugao to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 330 words]
MALACANANG on Monday slammed reports released by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) saying the Philippines is among the top exporters of heroin. "The veracity of this report has yet to be confirmed, but we must emphasize that our sustained campaign against illegal drugs has since cut the domestic drug trade in half," the President's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said. He pointed out that the government has done much to curb the illegal drugs trade in the country and it would be unfair to ignore these efforts. [continues 170 words]
MALACANANG admitted on Monday that the government's antidrug work is only half done in the wake of a United Nations report citing the Philippines as the world's third-largest producer of shabu. "We have pushed the drug menace far back but we take the UN report as a reminder that there is more to be done," President Arroyo said. "The drug problem has been half beaten and the street price of methamphetamine has gone up almost five fold," she added. [continues 172 words]
Malacanang on Friday ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to also go after law enforcers, prosecutors and members of the judiciary who protect drug syndicates. President Arroyo gave the order after the Department of Justice noted a suspicious "pattern" among police affidavits that often lead to the dismissal of drug cases. "The bungling of drug cases on purpose can happen at any level of the criminal justice system and we will move against law enforcers, prosecutors, judges who set drug offenders free in exchange for bribes. The PDEA must keep a watch list of crooked personalities and expose and proceed against them as the evidence warrants," the President said. [continues 175 words]
TO show that the government is serious in its war against drug traffickers, Malaca-ang is studying the possibility of lifting the moratorium on the implementation of the death-penalty law. "If a drug lord has been sentenced to [death] and the decision has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, the sentence should be carried out as soon as possible," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. He said it was important to carry out the law right away, specifically Republic Act 7659, or the Heinous Crimes Law, and Republic Act 8177, or the Lethal Injection Law. [continues 201 words]
THE Department of Justice would pursue the extradition of Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez despite reports that the United States government is poised to file drug charges against him, Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said yesterday. Perez cited a report that Jimenez or Mario Crespo would be facing drug charges in the US, but Washington had only provided the DOJ with documents on the cases pending in court against the lawmaker, including illegal campaign contribution, wire fraud and tax evasion that were used in filing the extradition case. [continues 299 words]
