Law Enforcers Don’t Have to be Drug-users to Catch Drug Lords

Drugs and Crimes

It is disheartening that four (4) operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division of the Police Regional Office-7 were tested positive for drug use. This is not the first time that law enforcers were tested positive and others openly admit of being drug dependents.

The common justification is that our operatives have to use drugs in order to be successful in its anti-operations. They say that in order to gather information and earn the trust of a drug group they have to use drugs.

This not only applies to the PNP, this year agents of the PDEA (graduates of our Academy) were dismissed from the service for use of dangerous drugs. There are agents and PNP operatives who as Deep Penetration Agents turned out to be drug users even before completing its mission.

This method of anti-drug operation should be stopped, this is the most stupid way of fighting the war against drugs. Intelligence gathering and surveillance do not have to employ or make our law enforcers drug users themselves, there are many ways of penetrating a drug group.

The easiest criminal syndicate to neutralize and identify are the Drug Syndicates or Groups. Why is this so? Because the Filipinos are natural braggarts, it is very common for a drug seller or peddler to announce or brag who they are.

In Metro Cebu alone, the leaders of the drug syndicates are known by the public, they even brag who of the police or PDEA Agents they are giving money or buying out. They boast to every friends or relatives who and how much they are giving to a law enforcer.

Aside from “LOOSE TALK”, of the members of the syndicates, information on who the members of a drug group and its operation are readily available. Our law enforcers just have to visit Drug Rehabilitation Centers and Jails, and simply interview the people there, in less than an hour you will know the operation of the drug syndicates in a city.

Our law enforcers could also buy information or trade benefits to other criminal group like small time or petty snatchers and thieves who are in always in the streets and knows what is happening in their areas.

The Barangay Officials (those who have not been bought by the Drug Groups) are ready with the information, names, address and mode of operations, provided however that the law enforcers have the trust and respect of the officials.

If our officials, PNP Chief, Director General of the PDEA and the DILG Secretary have no creative ideas on how to have successful anti-drug operations without making our law enforcers be addicts themselves, one day it would turn out that these officials themselves would also be drug addicts themselves.

The fact that we do have law enforcers who use drugs in order to catch the drug lords, simply tells us that we have lousy and stupid officials who do not know the basics of effective intelligence gathering.

Today we do not even need information because everyone knows who are the leaders of the Drug Groups in Metro Cebu, what we need is simply the dedication and commitment of our law enforcers to arrest them now. My question is, “What is keeping them from not arresting these RDs (Regional Drug Lords)?” Are they more powerful than the Regional Directors of the PNP and PDEA?

About the Author: Clarence Paul V. Oaminal is a lawyer and author of ‘The Textbook on The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002’. He is the Vice-chairman and Undersecretary of the Dangerous Drugs Board and is the current adviser and presiding officer of Cebu City Anti-Drug Abuse Council. He also hosts the local advocacy program ‘Krimen ug Drugas’ in CCTN Channel 47.