China, top PH source of drugs? Robredo maybe ‘misinformed’ – PDEA chief

MANILA, Philippines — Is China really the main source of illegal drugs in the Philippines as claimed by Vice President Leni Robredo?

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino said Robredo might have only been misinformed.

READ: Leni Robredo: Check China as top drug source

“I don’t know where the Vice President got the source of that information. Baka mamaya she was misinformed. Sa dami ng kinakausap kung sino-sino, baka may nagsabi sa kanya na ang number one source of drugs is China… Misinformed or na-misunderstood niya,” he said in a phone interview.

(I don’t know where the Vice President got that information. Maybe she was only misinformed. Talking to so many people, maybe someone told her that the number one source of drugs is China… She might have been misinformed or have misunderstood it.)

Aquino said Robredo’s supposed confusion might have been due to PDEA’s presentation of different packagings of Chinese tea where illegal drugs are being concealed by drug traders. He said the presentation was made during last Thursday’s meeting of the law enforcement cluster of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

This, he said, is only the trademark packaging of the Golden Triangle Syndicate operating in the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand.

“Baka akala niya na [dahil] ‘yun ang dumarating sa bansa, akala niya ginawa sa China ‘yun. Pero hindi. Baka doon nagkaroon ng misunderstanding or baka sa dami ng Chinese na naaresto, baka akala niya siguro ang mga drugs na ito ay galing sa China,” said Aquino.

(Maybe she thought that because those were being smuggled into the country, she thought those were made in China. But, no. Maybe that caused misunderstanding, or since many Chinese are being arrested she thought all these drugs come from China.)

He said PDEA is communicating with the staff of Robredo to know her basis for making the claim.

According to Aquino, the source of illegal drugs depends on the kind of drugs being talked about.

For instance, he noted, crystal meth – locally known as “shabu” – mostly comes from China in the past “but not now.” Instead, he said, the current largest supplier of “shabu” in the local market is the Golden Triangle Syndicate.

Cocaine, meanwhile, mostly comes from Columbia and Peru while ecstasy comes from the Netherlands and other European countries.

Edited by KGA