PDEA chief vows ‘less bloody’ war on drugs

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino on Thursday said the government's war on drugs will be less bloody now that they are the sole agency in charge of it.

In an interview on GMA News' "News To Go," Aquino said he will not allow PDEA operatives to violate the law during their operations, even as he invited media personnel to join their operations for transparency purposes.

"Yes, during my interview a while ago I'm asking all the media to join me in all my operations, you're all welcome and lahat ng operations ko isama natin ang media, may body cams kami and everything," Aquino said when asked if the drug war would be less bloody under PDEA.

Aquino said that since July 1, 2016, only 28 drug personalities died during their operations.

"That's true, mula nung July 1, 2016 up to present nagkaroon lang ng 28 victims ng patayan that involves illegal drugs, sila po yung nakalaban namin and I can assure the public that this 28 are legitimate operations," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in a memorandum signed October 10, tasked PDEA to lead the war on drugs, taking the job away from the Philippine National Police (PNP), which has been blamed for a large number of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects.

Despite being the sole agency in charge of the drug war, Aquino said the PDEA will still need the assistance of the PNP when it comes to operations, citing their lack of personnel.

"Ang magli-lead ng operations lahat ay PDEA na po, hindi na pwedeng mag-lead ang ibang law enforcement agencies to include the PNP," Aquino said.

"At pwede pa rin kaming humingi ng tulong kasi nakasaad sa batas natin yan sa RA (Republic Act) 9165, that the PDEA can seek assistance to any law enforcement agencies in the conduct of illegal drugs," he added.

Aquino said that PDEA has only more than 1,100 agents, which can be challenging for them as they also have to operate on the grassroots level.

"Alam ko mahihirapan kami, there will be a lot of obstacles and challenges along the way but I can assure the public na kakayanin namin itong trabaho na 'to, napakahirap dahil nga considering ang aming manpower ay dalawang libo lang kami and this is the number of personnel already operating in the region," Aquino said.

"Kung titingnan mo kasi yung dalawang libo na 'yan kasama na yung mga chemist namin don at tsaka mga admin personnel. Ang talagang number of personnel, agents ko lang nag nagooperate is 1,100 plus so napakaliit nito kumpara sa strength ng PNP na 190,000," he added. —Marlly Rome C. Bondoc/KBK, GMA News