THE Justice department is making arrangements for the transfer of two suspected Russian drug traffickers to a “comfortable” detention house as pledged by President Rodrigo Duterte during the bilateral meeting of between the Philippines and Russia.
Duterte committed to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that the drug suspects Yuri Kirdyushkin and Anastasia Novopashina would enjoy a “working functional justice system.”
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said both suspects were now undergoing trial for drug trafficking charges.
Aguirre said Kirdyushkin was detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while Novopashina was being held at the Pasay City Jail.
“They are in detention. I am making arrangements to implement the order of President Duterte, Aguirre said.
He made his statement even as the Dangerous Drugs Board requested a P15-million budgetary allocation from the Senate finance committee to determine the number of drug users in the country.
Senator Panfilo Lacson made the revelation during the Senate interpellation of the proposed 2018 budget of the DDB Thursday night.
“They requested for a P15-million funding so they can conduct a more accurate survey on the number of drug users,” Lacson said when asked by Senator Risa Hontiveros on the conflicting claims on the number of drug users.
Lacson said he suggested to the DDB to put the money “into good use by getting a more reputable survey firm so we can, more or less, be certain whenever we deal with the figures.”
Hontiveros had questioned the DDB on the real number of drug dependents in the country.
She said the DDB under its former chairman, retired general Dionisio Santiago, was using the estimate of three to four-million drug users in the Philippines.
But Dionisio was reported to have admitted that the number was a “guesstimate.”
