MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Solicitor General has formed a task force that will help the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in building up drug cases and prevent their dismissal on a technicality.

Solicitor-General Agnes Devanadera said the Anti-Illegal Drug Task Force will review the procedures being followed by PDEA in the preparation and prosecution of drug cases.

"We will assist the PDEA in the build-up of cases on violation of anti-drug law,” she said. “In fact, we have already coordinated with them and asked for information about all the cases they are handling."

The task force, which will be headed by Assistant Solicitor General Cielo Se-Rondain, will also review dismissed drug cases and the reasons for their dismissal, Devanadera said.

Devanadera said the task force will also coordinate with PDEA in identifying the authorities of the antinarcotics agency and police officers who failed to appear during hearings, leading to the dismissal of a case.

"One way or the other, it caused obstruction to the prosecution of the cases," she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the Office of the Solicitor-General to assist the PDEA in the preparation of cases following the Department of Justice's dismissal of a case due to procedural lapses against the “Alabang Boys.”

During last week's Cabinet meeting, Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Vicente Sotto III also noted that the PDEA agents needed to familiarize with the country’s anti-drugs law.

PDEA records showed that 99, 754 drug cases have filed all over the country since its creation in early 2000. Of these, 78,047 or 78 percent remain pending, 5,832 or six percent dismissed, 2,346 or two percent provisionally dismissed, 6,862 or seven percent cases convicted and 6,667 acquitted cases.

Reasons for acquittal include irregularity or illegality of arrest, search and seizure, reasonable doubt, insufficient evidence, and inconsistent testimonies.