MANILA -- A total of 62 recruits started their training on Friday in Silang, Cavite to become agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said a total of 39 males and 23 females -- members of the Drug Enforcement Officers’ Basic Course (DEOBC) Class 2020-18 -- took their oath of commitment which signaled the start of their six-month comprehensive and regimented training on drug law enforcement.
The hiring of DEOBC Class 2020-18 started on Aug. 18, 2019, wherein a total of 1,176 applicants applied, the majority of which came from Luzon area. Qualifying and Neuro-Psychological Examinations were held in four testing centers located in La Trinidad, Benguet, Davao City, Quezon City, and Cebu City.
“They will undergo comprehensive and regimented training in order to mold them as the premier drug enforcement officers of the country. PDEA agents are tasked to solve the country’s illegal drug problem,” Aquino said.
The PDEA Drug Enforcement Officers Basic Course comprises basic management and leadership, communication enhancement skills, community-based anti-illegal drug advocacy, legal studies, anti-illegal drug intelligence and tactics, interdiction operations and investigation, and other non-academic activities.
The PDEA has the highest ever recorded recruitment under the present administration producing 756 full-pledged anti-narcotic agents.
Currently, PDEA has 1,795 DEOs assigned in the different PDEA regional offices, district offices, provincial offices, and at airports and major seaports across the country.
“With the increasing manpower capability of PDEA, we are drawing closer to our goal of eradicating illegal drugs in our community based on the three-pronged approach that we employ, while we focus on our barangay drug clearing program,” Aquino stressed, adding that the continuous hiring of DEO’s will boost the government effort in the anti-illegal drug campaign. (PNA)
