'TINAMAD NA BA?'

Lacson finds anti-drug budget too small, questions Duterte's resolve

The P2 billion the executive branch proposed for the country's anti-narcotics strategy too small compared to the other items in the P4.5-trillion proposed national budget, Senator Panfilo Lacson indicated on Tuesday.

In a hearing of a Senate sub-committee on finance, the allocation for the Philippine Anti-Drugs Strategy in the proposed general appropriations bill led Lacson to ask if President Rodrigo Duterte was still interested in his flagship war on drugs.

The senator pointed out that the allocation was only 0.4% of the multi-trillion-peso proposed budget.

“‘Yung drug problem, ito ‘yung one of the top priorities of the administration even when the President took over in 2016 and that’s the reason why in 2018 he issued EO (Executive Order) 66,” Lacson said.

“Bakit pa tayo nag-issue ng EO 66? Tinamad na ba si Presidente sa war against illegal drugs?” he added.

EO 66 institutionalized the PADS which outlined the balanced efforts of the government to strengthen the campaign against the use of illegal drugs and its precursors.

The DDB is the lead agency for this effort and all government agencies were mandated to implement it. -NB, GMA News