Pubdate: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 Source: Manila Times (Philippines) Copyright: 2003, The Manila Times Contact: http://www.manilatimes.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921 Author: Anthony Vargas, Correspondent DRUG ENFORCERS HAMSTRUNG BY LACK OF FUNDS The traffic in and sale of illegal drugs has grown into a P300-billion industry in the Philippines, with 226 syndicates as the main players, according to the country's top drug-enforcer. But despite this alarming growth, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has to make do with a P79-million budget, according Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido Jr., PDEA director-general. Avenido told The Manila Times that drug rings have become the country's biggest law and order problem. "In fact, drug pushing is now one of the most common street crimes," he said. The syndicates thrive on a big market: about two million Filipinos are drug users. Avenido said the PDEA inherited the P79-million budget allocated for the agency it replaced, the Philippine National Police Narcotics Command. He said he welcomes the proposal of Sen. Panfilo Lacson that part of the intelligence fund of Malacaqang be given to PDEA. "That would be a great help to us," he said. The PDEA replaced Narcom as the lead agency in fighting illegal drugs last year, when President Arroyo signed the Comprehensive Drug Act of 2002 (R.A. 9165). Despite meager resources, Avenido said the PDEA was able to bust 33 drug rings including one transnational syndicate last year. He said eight percent of the country's 42,000 barangays have a drug problem. But help is on the way. A team of drug-enforcement experts from the United Nations is due to arrive this month to train Filipino narcotics agents, Avenido said. The arrival of the UN team does not mean that the drug situation in the country is getting worse, he said. "The UN acknowledges that the drug menace is global in nature, and they regularly send their men to help countries fight the drug problem. We are just fortunate that this year, they choose to help us," Avenido said. The team "would conduct training on Drug Enforcement Network, which is a computer-based program," Avenido said. He said formal training of drug agents would begin in the middle of the year after they, together with the UN team have ironed the details of the training program. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake