PDEA's Aquino to Robredo: You ignored gov't efforts vs. illegal drugs

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Monday took exception to the claim of Vice President Leni Robredo that the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs was a failure.

In a press statement, PDEA chief Director General Aaron Aquino said Robredo had “dismissed” and “ignored” all efforts of the government in curbing illegal drugs for the past three years.

“As far as PDEA is concerned, the metrics for the success of the anti-illegal drug campaign is drug clearing, crime index, trust rating and operational accomplishments,” Aquino said.

“I see her recommendations as a mere political attack against President Rodrigo Duterte,” he added.

The PDEA chief was questioning how Robredo can claim that the drug war was a failure when, for him, numbers have shown otherwise.

Latest data from the anti-drug agency stated that a total of 16,706 out of 33,881 barangays have been cleared of illegal drugs.

When it comes to the number of crimes, the PDEA said incidents have declined from 11,860 in July 2016 to 5,000 in July 2019. The data cited by the PDEA was from the Philippine National Police.

Survey shows Filipinos satisfied

Meanwhile, the PDEA further said survey results in September 2019 have shown that 82 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

The agency even cited the trust rating of President Rodrigo Duterte, saying that it was at its peak at 87 percent last December.

“Ibig sabihin tama ang ginagawa ng ating national government. Gusto ng tao ang ginagawa ng Pangulong Duterte sa program kontra illegal na droga,” Aquino said.

The PDEA also seized a total of P45 million worth of illegal drugs during Duterte’s three years in office.

Authorities conducted a total of 162,987 anti-illegal drugs operations and arrested 225,284 suspected drug personalities.

Aquino also said the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is now on its final phase of gathering data to update the number of illegal drugs users and sellers.

“We reported that to the VP. However, I told her that it is very difficult to gather the real data since nobody will admit that he/she is a user or pusher,” Aquino said.

“That is the same situation in other countries,” he added.

Earlier, Robredo disclosed her 40-page report on her 19-day stint as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Illegal Drugs.

The Vice President said only one percent of drug supply and money was seized by authorities.

Robredo also expressed disappointment that the government had no progress reports on the drug suspects who surrendered to authorities.

Aquino, meanwhile, admitted that there are still flaws in the drug war but he vowed that the ICAD is doing something to address those shortcomings.

Solon slams Robredo

Robredo's report did not sit well with PBA party-list Representative Jericho Nograles, particularly the recommendation to let the DDB and not PDEA lead the inter-agency body against illegal drugs.

In a message to reporters, Nograles said transferring the authority to the DDB requires an increase in its budget, which is already late since the 2020 national budget has been signed.

"Ang lipat ng responsibility means increase of budget in those agencies. Tapos na budget season at pirmado na budget. Ngayon pa lang nag-statement? Wag naman ganyan," he said.

"We all belong in the same government working for the same people," he added. —LDF, GMA News