CAMP DANGWA, BENGUET—A top official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said two of the most pressing issues in his nationwide consultations are guns-for-hire and the use of minors as illegal drug couriers.

Dante Jimenez, PAOCC commissioner, said he would include the use of guns-for-hire among the new list of organized crimes when he submits his report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo next month.

“This is an emerging organized crime. I received complaints on this in my visits,” Jimenez, also founder of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said here on Friday.

“Guns-for-hire [groups] have the complete ingredients of an organized crime. It is composed of two or more participants. There are connections with various influential pillars of society and money is involved,” he said.

He said there are some villages in the country where one could get assassins for P5,000 to P10,000. He said this problem would surface as the 2010 elections draw near.

Crime syndicates, particularly those engaged in the illegal drugs trade, are using minors as couriers, he also said.

These syndicates take advantage of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (Republic Act 9344), which exempts children, 15 years old and below, from criminal liabilities, he said.

He would call for the amendment of the law to correct this problem, he said.

Cordillera Administrative Region police director Chief Supt. Eugene Martin said the use of children as illegal drug couriers is still not prevalent in the region. Frank Cimatu, Inquirer Northern Luzon