PDEA improved handling of P6.8-B seized illegal drugs, COA says

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has implemented the recommendations of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the improvements of its handling of P6.8-billion worth of seized illegal drugs and its transparency to inspecting auditors, the COA said in its 2018 report.

The COA said its findings in the 2017 audit have been classified as "implemented."

The COA had found no fire extinguishers and surveillance cameras during its inspection at the PDEA laboratory used for forensic examination.

The commission said this lack of equipment makes the laboratory susceptible to fire and forced entry considering its entrance is also located near a storage area.

State auditors were also not granted access to the evidence room and storage facilities "for reason of sensitivity of the drug evidence," the 2017 audit said.

The COA recommended for PDEA management then to improve the security measures of its storage facilities and "allow a certain level of transparency" in its handling of illegal drugs.

A year later, the COA said the chief of the Documentation and Evidence Division has implemented several safety and security measures in the PDEA laboratory and has reviewed the guidelines in handling confiscated illegal drugs.

The commission said the PDEA has installed CCTV cameras in the evidence room and the hallway leading to the storage area, while ventilation units were placed to preserve the evidence. 

Fire extinguishers and a steel grill around the facility was also placed to prevent easy access from the outside, according to the COA, in addition to the concrete walls.

Aside from this, the COA said an audit team was allowed to observe how the PDEA handles evidence and was even invited to the destruction of seized illegal drugs in Trece Martirez, Cavite on July 27, 2018.

"The grant of access to COA personnel to a restricted PDEA facility is PDEA's way of showing transparency. This is also showing transparency by destructing evidence in front of the public and witnesses including the media," the COA said, quoting the report of the anti-drug agency.

"To ensure transparency with regards to pieces of evidence stored in the PDEA Evidence Room, PDEA conducts annual physical inventory of evidence where [police] personnel and [two National Bureau of Investigation] personnel are invited to do the inventory," it added. — RSJ, GMA News