DOJ to coordinate with agencies abroad for Philippine drug trade info

The Department of Justice will coordinate with international agencies to gather information on drug syndicates in the country, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Tuesday.

“Isang problema kasi na ating tinitignan din yung supply side kung saan criminal syndicate ang involved [One of the problems that we are looking at is the supply side where criminal syndicates are involved],” Remulla said during a briefing.

“[W]e will be coordinating further with all the agencies involved… even the multilateral agencies abroad that may have information to share with us,” he later added.

Remulla mentioned the United States Department of Agriculture, the International Criminal Police Organization, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, and other agencies that may have information that can help the Philippines “to arrest, to stop, to eradicate the importation of drugs.”

He issued the remark a day after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., in his second State of the Nation Address, said he would accept the resignations of ''unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade.''

The Presidential Communications Office said Marcos has accepted the courtesy resignations of 18 high-ranking officers of the Philippine National Police.

According to Remulla, there is no legal issue with the resignations.

“Wala, basta voluntary resignation walang ano 'yan, walang legal issue [as long as these are voluntary resignations, there is no issue],” he said.

“A voluntary resignation is very clear and unequivocal,” Remulla later added.

Remulla also agreed with Marcos’s statement that the authorities' approach will be geared toward “community-based treatment, rehabilitation, education, and reintegration.”

“We’re looking at the health, ito yung health-based approach na that many of these drug users are victims and they deserve to be rehabilitated,” he said.

(We’re looking at the health-based approach where many of these drug users are victims and they deserve to be rehabilitated.)

“['Y]an ang tungkol sa rehabilitation efforts natin para sa ating mga kababayan na nalulong sa droga at para sila naman ay mapakinabangan pa ng ating lipunan at para sila ay makabalik sa ating lipunan,” he later added.

(This is about the rehabilitation efforts for our citizens who became involved in drugs so that they can still contribute and return to our society.) — BM, GMA Integrated News