(Eagle News) — The chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said his agency will rise up to the challenge given by President Rodrigo Duterte, to lead the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, even if his agency only has about 2,000 personnel.
PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino said that PDEA will follow the President’s directive, and assured that even if their numbers are small, they would manage although he admitted that they would need all the help they would get from all sectors of society.
Aquino said that their 2,000 personnel is no match to the 190,000-strong Philippine National Police (PNP). Already included in the 2,000 number of personnel are their chemists and administration personnel, he said.
But he said he would not allow his men to violate the law, and that they would have to level up their operations, with the help of the barangay anti-drug abuse council (BADAC) and other local officials.
“Magiging limitado ang operations namin. Pero just the same kakayanin namin. Lahat ng klase ng operations na gagawin namin, especially sa barangay level. Makikipag-coordinate kami sa mga barangay officials. Tutugunan namin ang mga operations, na hindi na natutugunan ng PNP,” Aquino said in an interview with GMA’s “News to Go.”
Aquino said that PDEA would still need the help of the PNP in the conduct of anti-drug operations.
“Hihingi pa rin kami kahit konting tulong sa PNP, particularly sa pag-conduct ng operations, pero kami pa rin ang mag-li-lead ng mga specific operations, ng lahat ng ito,” he said
-PNP to transfer all intel info on illegal drugs to PDEA-
Aquino said that the PNP would have to transfer to the PDEA every operations concerning illegal drugs that they have, including intelligence information.
Every operation they have, every intelligence information they have, ita-transfer lang sa amin, at kami nga ang mag-li-lead ng operations na yun,” he said referring to the PNP operations.
“Ile-level up na lang namin ang operations namin,” he said.
“There will be a lot of obstacles along the way, but I want to assure the public na kakayanin namin ang trabaho na ito,” he said.
PDEA personnel will use body cameras in their operations. They are also expecting the arrival of 300 more bodycams for the use of the PDEA.
Aquino said that as of now, they have “limited” manpower. At the regional level, their people number around 30 to 40. And at the provincial level, PDEA only has three to four personnel, Aquino said.
“Just the same, we will coordinate with Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC) namin. Sila rin kasi ang nakaka-alam sa mga problema sa illegal drugs sa barangay,” he said.
-PDEA to level-up operations, says Aquino –
Whereas before the PDEA only concentrated on high-value target operations, with the President’s new directive for PDEA to lead all anti-drug operations, Aquino said that the PDEA will now have to conduct even street-level operations.
He said this is a big challenge for the PDEA right now.
“We will focus on high value targets. Pero ngayon na hindi na kasama ang PNP, kailangan na mag-operate rin kami sa street level. Gagampanan po namin lahat yan – mula sa taas, sa gitna at sa baba. Malaking hamon ito sa PDEA, pero kakayanin namin ito,” Aquino said.
The police, on the other hand, assured that they would always be ready to provide help to PDEA.
“Kung kailangan kami ng PDEA we will always be there. The directive is for us to have maximum police visibility,” said Police Senior Supt. Graciano Mijares, head of the former PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG).
(Eagle News Service)