Sotto: Don’t telegraph our moves to drug lords

MANILA, Philippines — “We should not telegraph our moves to the drug dealers.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said this Saturday as he expressed agreement with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino on not giving a list of high-value drug targets to the Vice President.

Aquino previously said that there is no need for Vice President Leni Robredo to obtain a list of high-value targets, saying it is not part of their mandate as co-chairpersons of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs  (ICAD).

Echoing Aquino, Sotto said ICAD’s mandate is to coordinate policies “among agencies involved in drug abuse and illegal drugs.”

“I know because I started the inter-agency concept with DDB [Dangerous Drugs Board] Director Manuel Supnet in 1989,” Sotto said in a statement.

Sotto said a list of the drug syndicates will “merely leak if agencies concerned will submit to the ICAD.”

Sotto also warned the media not to publicize ICAD’s strategies and planning against high-value drug personalities.

“ICAD should inform media when there are major achievements and accomplishments, not when planning strategies,” he said.

Edited by MUF