TACLOBAN CITY — The war on drugs nationwide would likely be headed for a wild goose chase based on leads from what could be the most unreliable way to gather information — drop boxes.
Acting on a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) order, each of the 138 villages in this city would have a drop box, where names of drug suspects could be put in by anonymous tipsters.
The boxes, costing P1,300 each, would be placed outside village halls starting in October, according to Darwin Bibar, city local operations officer.
Aside from serving as receptacles for tips on drug users or pushers, the drop boxes could also be used to report corruption and abuses by officials, said Bibar.
“We are doing this with the consent of the barangays,” Bibar said.
He said he and two members of a technical working group, also with the DILG office in the city, would open the boxes weekly and collect envelopes or notes dropped into these.
Names of drug suspects would be verified, but Bibar did not explain how.
He said, however, that tips on drug pushing or addiction would be referred to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the police.
If these involved officials, the information would be relayed to the Office of the Ombudsman.
Bibar sought to allay fears that the use of the boxes would be abused and misused.
“There is a safety measure because we are aware that this could be subjected to abuse,” he said.
He said authorities would ensure that reports found in the boxes “would undergo validation process.”
“We will not just act on them considering this will be done anonymously,” Bibar added.
Ronnie Dayon, chair of Barangay 71 here, said that while he would comply, he had apprehensions about the use of drop boxes.
“There is no doubt that this would be abused,” he said.
“One who has an ax to grind against his neighbor, for example, could write the name and place it in the drop box,” he said.
But Bibar said the city government was just heeding a DILG directive for all local governments to implement a campaign called “Masa Masid.”
The DILG Memo 2016-116 said the use of drop boxes was multipurpose — against corruption, drugs and crimes. It would also revive the spirit of volunteerism, according to the memo.