MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) on Thursday opposed the proposed creation of a Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority (PRDEA) that, in turn, would dissolve both agencies as stated under a bill.
The proposal to create the said agency stemmed from Senate Bill No. 3 by Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
During a Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee hearing, PDEA Deputy Director Gregrorio Pimentel said the creation of another agency would “cause more harm rather than solution to the current war on drugs of the government.”
“The government’s anti-drug programs and strategies are already in place. The abolition of PDEA and DDB along with their powers and authority will certainly displace and compromise these strategies,” Pimentel said.
He added that the government’s anti-drug campaign has already “gained the necessary momentum to curtail the proliferation of dangerous drugs” and the reorganization of agencies “may only harm and place every effort to achieve this momentum back to scratch.”
Likewise, the creation of the PRDEA does not assure that the war on drugs “will greatly improve” and “may steal the progress already gained in the anti-illegal campaign,” Pimentel added.
Under Sotto’s bill, the PRDEA shall primarily be the supervising agency for the proper, more effective and efficient implementation of the country’s anti-drug law or Republic Act. No. 9165.
The proposed agency will “absorb the policy-making and strategy-formulating functions of the current Dangerous Drugs Board.”
As the PDEA will be abolished under the measure, its powers will be exercised by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
DDB Undersecretary Benjamin Reyes echoed Pimentel’s statement, saying that “sustaining the status quo would be more prudent.”
“It is important to sustain the momentum and strengthen institutional implementation of the respective mandate of the member agencies of the board,” Reyes said during the hearing.
“Maybe it is more prudent at this time to support and strengthen the implementation of each member agency and sustain status quo,” he added. /jpv