PDEA chief OKs new ‘Alsa Masa’ vs drugs

TRECE MARTIRES CITY—The chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) welcomed the idea of a community-based civilian support group to beef up the antidrug and anticrime campaigns of the government.

PDEA director Isidro Lapeña said he supports the formation of an unarmed, village-based group patterned after the infamous “Alsa Masa,” an armed vigilante group operating in Davao City, which the government tapped to run after communist insurgents in the 1980s.

“It would just be like the Alsa Masa in Davao [but] an Alsa Masa against drugs,” Lapeña said here last week.

Lapeña, who led the destruction of more than P1 billion worth of confiscated illegal drugs in this city in Cavite province last week, said the “improved” version of the Alsa Masa will be an unarmed organization that is expected to provide government agents tips to track down illegal drug and crime suspects.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno also floated the idea of a village-based spy group, a proposal which he said was approved by President Duterte.

“We have intensified our campaign against these high-value targets, we are also giving importance to the organization, mobilization, and involvement of our citizens,” Lapeña said.

When asked, Lapeña said PDEA would tap the Department of the Interior and Local Government to oversee the group to prevent it from abusing its powers.

Lapeña reiterated this amid the surge in the number of suspected drug users and pushers killed in police encounters. Several suspects were also found dead, killed vigilante-style.

Director General Ronald dela Rosa, Philippine National Police chief, had said leaders of drug syndicates could be behind the summary executions of drug runners, who have been failing to remit drug money due to an intensified government campaign against illegal drugs.

Lapeña said while PDEA continues the crackdown, its officials have also begun “cleansing” the agency’s ranks to remove agents involved in illegal drug activities. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon