MANILA, Philippines?The House of Representatives will start on Monday its investigation of the government?s war on illegal drugs and its drug enforcement and prosecution to determine why major operations like those involving the so-called ?Alabang Boys? turned out to be legal bust in the hands of the justice department.
Last week, Sen. Gregorio ?Gringo? Honasan, chair of the Senate committee on public order, safety and illegal drugs, had agreed to look into the case of the ?Alabang Boys,? especially on how to ensure that the enforcement side and prosecution side work on the same page. This was according to Vicente ?Tito? Sotto III, chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board.
To go full blast
Ilocos Norte Rep. Roquito Ablan, chair of the congressional oversight committee on dangerous drugs, has invited Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) head Dionisio Santiago, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuńo, and Sotto for an informal hearing on Jan. 5.
?This is just information gathering from the key players. We plan to go full blast once Congress resumes its session. We have decided to do this quickly because this cannot wait,? Ablan said.
Ablan was referring to the alleged P50-million bribe that led to the recommendation by state prosecutors to dismiss the charges against Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph and Joseph Ramirez Tecson.
He noted the dismissal of cases involving high-profile drug operations made by the PDEA last year.
?We cannot let this continue. We have to find out the reasons why these cases where the culprits have been caught red-handed are being dismissed so easily,? said Ablan in a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Discouraging pattern of dismissals
The PDEA caught the ?Alabang Boys? peddling Ecstasy pills in a sting operation last September but this was dismissed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) investigating panel led by Zuńo after three months for insufficiency of evidence.
The dismissal has led to charges of bribery by the PDEA which has prompted President Macapagal-Arroyo to order that the ?Alabang Boys? remain in jail while the case was being re-investigated.
Ablan said the case of the ?Alabang Boys? was not the only concern of the House committee.
He noted that there seemed to be a discouraging pattern in which the DoJ had failed to make any of the charges stick on suspects linked to illegal drug trade busted by the PDEA in 2008 such as those in La Union, Laguna, Aurora-Quezon, and Subic Freeport. Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
