Close to 100K raps filed in line with gov't anti-drug drive

By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan

January 22, 2018, 4:51 pm

MANILA -- The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said that close to 100,000 complaints have been filed before the National Prosecution Service in connection with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's ongoing campaign against illegal drugs in the country.

During the #RealNumbersPH press briefing in Malacanang, Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo said a total of 96,943 complaints between the period from July to December 2016, and January to September 2017 were filed by joint law enforcement agencies involved in the anti-illegal drugs operations such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Orceo said that out of this figure, a total of 95,242 complaints have been disposed, filed in court or dismissed as of January 17, 2018.

“On our part, the total disposal rate of the DOJ nationwide on cases filed on drug cases is about 98.25 percent,” he told reporters.

“We have a pending case of 1,701 -- these pending cases would involve motions for reconsiderations filed in the local prosecutor, and some have reached DOJ on an automatic review; and some of which were reached the Supreme Court via petition for certiorari,” he noted.

Also present during the briefing were PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon, and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz Banaag.

For the PNP's part, Carlos said the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) conducted 64,506 police anti-drug operations, which resulted to the arrest of 102,069 drug personalities for the period in review.

“Of these operations, we were able to file in court 42,182 cases and another 21,908 were referred to the prosecution office, while there are remaining 416 cases under investigation,” said Carlos.

He noted that for the homicide cases under investigation during the same period in review, the DIDM determined that out of the total of 19,568 homicide cases, 2,235 were drug-related.

The PNP spokesman said that of these drug-related incidents or cases, 403 have been solved or resolved already, while the remaining 1,822 cases are still under investigation.

“Cases are solved when suspect have been identified, arrested and cases have been filed in court,” he explained.

For consolidated data on the anti-drug campaign with data emanating from the PDEA, PNP, NBI, and the Bureau of Customs, Carreon said a total of 81,919 anti-drug operations have been conducted from July 2016 up to January 17, 2018.

Carreon said authorities also arrested 119,361 individuals involved in illegal drugs during the period.

Included in the total figure are 446 government workers -- 189 of them elected officials, 44 uniformed personnel, and 213 government employees, he said.

Carreon said the authorities dismantled a total of 183 clandestine shabu laboratories and drug dens in the country as part of the government's intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

“From July 2016 up to January 17, 2018, 174 drug dens and nine clandestine shabu laboratories were dismantled while different illegal drugs were seized worth PHP19.34 billion,” Carreon said, who is also Director of the PDEA Laboratory Service.

The PDEA spokersperson said as of January 17, a total of 2,577.05 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as "shabu," with an estimated street value of PHP13.24 billion were seized, posting an increase of PHP114.16 million compared to 2,560.48 kilos seized last December 2017 with an estimated street value of PHP13.13 billion

The PDEA official also said the consolidated report showed that 3,987 drug suspects have died during operations while 87 were killed in action and 226 wounded from the law enforcement agency during the anti-illegal drugs operations.

The joint law enforcement agencies rescued 589 minors during the anti-illegal drugs operations from July 2016 to January 17, 2018.

According to Department of Social and Welfare Development (DSWD), those rescued minors, after court proceedings, will be turned over to the Bahay Pag-asa centers of local government units (LGUs) within eight hours of police custody, before turning them over to the DSWD centers to undergo counseling to help reform them back to society.

Since they are minors, DSWD said they will not be put in prison together with hardened criminals.

Banaag, meanwhile, noted that since the launch of #RealNumbersPH in May 2017, agencies in government involved in the implementation of the programs related to illegal drugs have exerted collaborative effort to give an update on the latest data on the anti-drug campaign, particularly the numbers corresponding to the arrests, confiscation, seizure and operations.

“Every month since May 2017, we see numbers that allow us to understand how we are progressing in the campaign against illegal drugs,” she noted. (PNA)

Comments