The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has not monitored any big illegal drug laboratory operating in the country lately.
PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva issued the statement on Friday during the destruction of some P13 billion worth of confiscated illegal and regulated drugs in Trece Martirez, Cavite.
Villanueva credited the government multi-pronged effort against illegal drugs for the “disappearance” of big illegal drugs laboratories.
“Wala na kaming namo-monitor na malaking laboratory right now (We have not been able to monitor the existence of a big laboratory right now).”
“Lahat ng droga na nasa atin ngayon is galing sa labas (All drugs in the country came from outside. Ito ang effort natin (This is our effort)… ng PNP (Philippine National Police) at ng (Bureau of) Customs na talagang mahinto natin ito (that this should really be stopped),” Villanueva said.
President Duterte’s war on drugs, that has claimed the lives of thousands of alleged drug traffickers, most of whom are smalltime street pushers has been criticized, both locally and internationally.
Administration critics and human-rights groups claim that the death toll could be as high as 27,000 but the police said that the number of documented killings of alleged drug traffickers is only about 6,000.
Together with suppressing the operations of drug syndicates, Villanueva said the government is also addressing the “demand side” of the narcotics problem by clearing barangays of illegal drugs. He said illegal drugs would not be shipped to the Philippines if there would be no demand for them.
Solving the demand side of problem on illegal drugs, he said, is critical because kung walang demand (if there is no demand), definitely, hindi na magpapapasok ang mga iyan kasi di na (the syndicates will no longer bring in drugs because it is not longer) profitable,” he said. The local governments play a critical role in the demand side solution to the problem of illegal drugs, Villanueva added.
Earlier, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House of Representatives’s Committee on Dangerous Drugs, criticized the Bureau of Customs for its alleged inaction on the 171 kilograms of shabu found hidden inside aluminum pallets used in a shipment of tapioca starch, which was sold through auction by the Bureau after a botched examination in May last year.
“Is the new Bureau of Customs administration sleeping on its job?” Barbers asked Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to act on the matter. “It has been more than a year since, how come no investigation was conducted and with the results released by the bureau? How come no charges have been filed yet? How come despite the endless promises of reform and reshuffle, the same people are still there in the positions of control and influence?”
