Pubdate: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 Source: Philippine Star (Philippines) Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2006 Contact: http://www.philstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622 Author: Aurea Calica, Jaime laude, Pia Lee-Brago, Sandy Araneta Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DESTROY METRO DRUG DENS - GMA President Arroyo renewed yesterday her declaration of all-out war on the illegal drug trade especially in Metro Manila, vowing not to spare politicians or law enforcers involved in the scourge. The President's order came as police and narcotics agents apprehended 319 people on Friday, including women and minors, and confiscated over half a kilo of shabu, half a sack of tooters (glass pipes used to inhale the drug) and drug money during a raid on a neighborhood in Pasig City that served as a tiangge (flea market) where the drug could be bought, sold and used. Joint elements of the Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) and the police Special Action Force (SAF) stormed the drug den at a 600-square-meter compound in a squatter area called Sitio Mapayapa on F. Soriano street in Barangay Palatiw and made their arrests at 11:30 a.m. Friday. As this developed, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao ordered police and anti-drug authorities to widen the scope of their investigation into the existence of the Mapayapa drug enclave, where a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera monitoring system trained on the compound entrance was found. Lomibao issued this order to AIDSOTF chief Director Marcelino Ele Jr. The PNP chief also ordered Ele to hit the drug trafficking operators in the Pasig drug tiangge and their protectors hard. The President ordered the destruction of all drug enclaves in Metro Manila, whether they be in slums or in affluent neighborhoods, describing these drug dens as "nests of ruin and criminality that should never be allowed to fester." In an interview on Vice President Noli de Castro's radio show Para sa Iyo... Bayan, Lomibao said an informant told them the Mapayapa drug den "has been operating for two to three years." He said such information "is hard to believe" and that "the police and the local officials should do some explaining. That kind of operation will not last that long without their knowledge." "Politicians or law enforcers who are involved in the drug trade or who neglect their duties should be dealt with sternly," the President said. "The young victims should be brought in for rehabilitation while the hard-core criminals must be prosecuted and jailed." Many of the minors arrested at the Pasig drug den were aged between 10 and 12 and had served either as couriers for the drug pushers there or as "spotters" who provided advance warnings if law enforcers approached the area. They were remanded to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The arrested adults were brought to Camp Crame's custodian center. "A festering drug problem signals corruption, social decay and familial disintegration," she said. "We must wield the consolidated power of all concerned agencies, the schools, the private sector and the Church to bear upon this grim challenge." Sixteen of the people arrested in Friday's raid were found to be operators of drug shanties in the Mapayapa compound, while 56 others were caught either sniffing or in possession of shabu. The existence of the Mapayapa drug enclave triggered insinuations that the illegal drug trade in Pasig City could not have prospered into a "cottage industry" without the knowledge and willing consent of influential persons, including police officials. More policemen and police officials face dismissal when police officials meet on Monday to review the investigation into the shabu flea market now known as "Little Nicaragua," National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol said. "On Monday, we will sit down and review the report submitted by police officials" on the matter of the Pasig drug den, Querol said in Filipino during a telephone interview. "On that day, we will decide who else will be sacked from the ranks of the police force because of the incident." "More law enforcers are sure to be sacked so the image of the police force will not be tarnished," he added. Querol also said the PNP will take immediate action if more Pasig City and anti-drug law enforcers are found to have been remiss in their duties. Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Raul Medina said he will let his superiors decide his fate. "(Medina) is under investigation by the (NCRPO) and I have relieved his personnel in the Pasig anti-illegal drugs unit but I will not stop there. I said Medina has something to explain and (Eastern Police District chief Director Oscar) Valenzuela will also explain," Lomibao said. Despite this, Medina said the Pasig police had not been remiss in their campaign against the illegal drug trade. He said their accomplishments and operational reports will prove that they were not lax in their efforts to rid Pasig of illicit drugs. Medina said it is up to the PNP leadership to decide his fate, adding that a good soldier accepts whatever decision his superiors make. He said he has submitted his explanation to Valenzuela, regarding the existence of the Mapayapa drug den. Medina said he included in his explanation all the Pasig City police's accomplishments and operational reports on their anti-drug campaigns for last year and this year. Valenzuela has yet to release the findings of his investigation into Medina's culpability with regards to the continued operation of illicit drug traffickers in Pasig City. Six police officers assigned to Medina's precinct were also sacked and ordered to undergo retraining on orders of both Lomibao and Querol. Lomibao also ordered the relief of six more personnel of the Pasig Anti-Drug Unit for their perceived failure to monitor the shabu market and neutralize the widespread sale of illegal drugs. These narcotics agents were not identified. The PNP chief has also ordered that random drug tests be conducted on Pasig City police personnel "to see if there are any police officers" hooked on drugs. Lomibao also said Friday's drug raid was conducted on the strength of a warrant issued by the Quezon City regional trial court "to ensure that there would be no leaks" that would forewarn the drug traffickers in the Mapayapa drug den. "We wanted to ensure that there was no possibility of any leaks, so we utilized personnel from the SAF in Bicutan, Taguig, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Traffic Management Group (TMG) to seal the area," he said. Querol said the dismissed police officers' "fate now hangs in the balance. Those who failed to do their jobs will be held accountable." He added that he will proceed with his investigation slowly but surely, to determine who will be held accountable for the apparently flourishing illegal drug operations in Pasig City. Because arrested drug pushers often get out of jail quickly and are soon back on the streets and in the Mapayapa compound, the Pasig City government has begun the demolition of the enclave's elaborate maze of shanties and cubicles. Lomibao said the PNP is verifying reports that most of the people arrested in the Mapayapa drug raid were Muslims: "We are not sure of that, but that's the report I received. We have to confirm that report." - --- MAP posted-by: Tom