Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 Source: People's Journal (Philippines) Copyright: 2004 People's Journal Contact: http://www.journal.com.ph/contactus.asp Website: http://www.journal.com.ph/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3381 Author: General Edgardo B. Aglipay, PNP Deputy Director UNIFIER NEEDED AT PNP We have long asserted that unless we "hermetically seal" our porous borders, add more teeth and put more muscle to our drug-interdiction efforts, and end inter-agency rivalries, the war against illegal drugs would continue to be waged but never won. The first is a tough task, the country being archipelagic and having one of the longest coastlines in the world. Our Navy and Coast Guard would need modern communications and tracking equipment and fast attack boats to go after drug dealers smuggling the contraband into the country by sea. The second is being accomplished through the work of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by Director Anselmo Avenido and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine National Police headed by PNP Deputy Director General Edgardo B. Aglipay. The third had recently been achieved with the change of assignment of PDEA deputy director Reynaldo Jaylo, who now heads an anti-illegal recruitment task force. Jaylo and Avenido had been locked in an ugly word war that sapped morale within the lower echelons of the PDEA. The death of that Manila cop who was "executed" by assassins of local drug lords after warning "retailers" engaging in the door-to-door delivery of "shabu" (methamphetamine hydrochloride) should have shocked law enforcement top brass into cracking the whip and dismantling the local drug syndicates and their foreign confederates. While Avenido's work has been undermined by his feud with Jaylo, Aglipay's campaign against drug traffickers and their lethal merchandise seems to be more effective because Aglipay's men did not have to contend with warring commanders at the top. That is why, AIDSOTF chalked up spectacular gains over the past few months against the drug syndicates which are making a killing out of the P250-billion-a-year illicit trade. His task force had arrested three of the top eight drug lords--all of them from mainland China--and neutralized a fourth (whose eighth most powerful henchmen had been taken into custody). His foreign liaisoning work had also enabled Malaysian narcotics authorities to arrest another confederate. In this sense, Aglipay, currently number three (deputy director for operations) in the PNP hierarchy, could make a good candidate for the next chief of the PNP. President Arroyo, as commander-in-chief, alone has the sole prerogative to appoint the PNP chief under the Constitution, and as things stand, there is no constitutional constraint for Aglipay to be named PNP chief to replace Hermogenes Ebdane, who was reported to opt for early retirement to accept another government post. In a recent commentary, constitutionalist Joaquin Bernas said under a new law, any officer of the PNP who has less than one year of service before reaching the mandatory age of retirement is not barred from being appointed to the top PNP post. Earlier, Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida had said there was no legal impediment for Aglipay to succeed Ebdane as his possible appointment would not violate the law. Aglipay, a member of the Philippine Military Class '71, is set to retire on September 13. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin