The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) gave a whopping total of P67.17 million as reward to tipsters who gave confidential information on big-time operations since July 2016 to October 2018.
Data released by the PDEA Tuesday said that 56 civilian informants have received a total of P49.23 million, while 33 law operating units that have aced huge anti-drug operations have received P17.94 million.
PDEA Spokesperson Derrick Carreon said the agency’s “Operation: Private Eye” allows the giving of rewards to private citizens revealing locations of big “shabu” (chrystal meth) laboratories, storage of chemicals used in the manufacture of illegal drugs, and marijuana plantations, among others.
Monetary reward was also given to those who relayed information that led to the recovery of huge volume of illegal drugs, he said.
A similar program tagged “Operation: Lawmen,” meanwhile, rewards law enforcers who have successfully conducted significant anti-drug operations.
Carreon said the amount of the cash reward depends on the volume of confiscated illegal drugs, or the size of busted laboratories.
Citing the huge amount of money that can be bagged by informants, the PDEA official denied that the reward might be abused or taken advantage of by some individuals.
“There is such a thing [as safeguard mechanism], as always mentioned, [which is] the validation given to us. Hindi naman po iyan ‘yung tipong magturo-turo ka lang, may reward ka na agad,” he said during an event of the agency where the data was released.
(There is such a thing as safeguard mechanism, as always mentioned, the validation given to us. It does not mean that just because you pointed at something, you will have a reward.)
Carreon also called on the public to continuously report to authorities information that can lead to operations against illegal drugs. He said the PDEA will protect the identity of the informants.
“Kami po ay nananawagan sa lahat po ng gustong makipagtulungan sa ating pamahalaan na dumulog po sa amin at mag-file ng tinatawag na IRF (Information Report Form) (We are calling to all who want to help our government to come to us and file an IRF.),” he said.
“Definitely their identity will be kept for utmost secrecy for their protection,” he said.
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