The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will take the lead in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs after the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group was temporarily disbanded.
The decision was reached following the death of a South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame in the hands of rogue policemen.
In a press conference Wednesday, Police Regional Office 11 Director C/Supt. Manuel Gaerlan said only PDEA and authorized personnel from the military will now be allowed to conduct anti-drug operations.
“(The) war on drugs will continue but PDEA will take the lead,” Gaerlan said.
Gaerlan said he was not sure if PDEA will adopt the PNP’s “Oplan Tokhang” (knock and plead) operations but said the PNP drug watch list would be passed to PDEA.
He said PDEA will continue working with the police, miliraty forces, and local government units as there are still many persons engaged in the illegal drugs trade.
Meanwhile, PDEA 11 Regional Director Adzar Albani, who was also present in the press conference, mentioned that PDEA will be more focused on going after high-value targets instead of street-level pushers.
“We would be tapping the help of the military personnels for more manpower,” he said, explaining that PDEA lacks employees to handle the campaign against illegal drugs.
Asked how the military can augment PDEA forces in the war on drugs, Albani said the military can supplement intelligence operations.
“They (AFP) just have to be deputized by PDEA. Some of them are already involved, especially the intelligence personnel of the AFP in information gathering,” he said.
Meanwhile, Task Force Davao commander Col. Bernard Erwin Neri, who was present during Wednesday’s press conference, said their organization is also willing to support PDEA.
Neri also backed Albani’s statement that the TFD could help PDEA’s campaign as one of its “supporting units.”
“We [military and police] are still the supporting units of PDEA, the lead agency. We will not stop our campaign, we will still help them,” said Neri.
However, Neri pointed out that the certain units who would assist in the operations need to be trained on handling war against illegal drugs.
