Bill seeks to amend Dangerous Drugs Act

MANILA, Philippines—Lawmakers are seeking to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in a bid to beef up government’s drive against illegal drugs.

House Bill 5973 aims to boost the anti-illegal drugs units of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Customs to support the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s campaign to stamp out drug trafficking and abuse in the country.

Authored by Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez, Abante Mindanao Party-list Representative Maximo Rodriguez Jr., and Negros Occidental Representative Jeffrey Ferrer, the bill expects the three agencies to coordinate and inform the PDEA, the proposed lead agency, about their operations within 24 hours after drug suspects are arrested or illegal drugs are seized.

Rodriguez said the PNP-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, the NBI-Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force and the BoC Task Force were created to strengthen the support mechanism for the PDEA. He noted their accomplishments including “the arrest and eventual convictions of Mayor Ronnie Mitra and Amin Imam Boratong, the discovery and dismantling of multi-million peso clandestine laboratories and the arrest of members of the West African Drug Syndicates.”

He said it was “high time to institutionalize the support mechanism of the PNP, NBI and the BOC to the lead agency, PDEA,” explaining that the anti-drug campaigns have been “weakened” by the misconception that the issue was under the sole jurisdiction of the PDEA.

Rodriguez said that there should be a consolidated effort among the said agencies in dealing with illegal drugs since “the PDEA, in reality, cannot address the drug problem without the indispensable support of other law enforcement agencies.”