P2.3-BILLION ILLEGAL DRUGS DESTROYED IN CAVITE
[PHOTO AT LEFT - Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Anselmo Avenido (right) and Sen. Manuel Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, supervise the destruction of some P2.3 billion of seized illegal drugs at a government incinerator in Trece Martirez City in Cavite. With them is forensic chemist Dr. Teresa Cid. Photo by MIKE AMOROSO ]
MANILA, October 27 , 2004 (STAR) By Christina Mendez and Jose Rodel Clapano - Authorities destroyed yesterday over P2 billion worth of illegal drugs seized by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in its operations throughout the country.
Officials led by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and PDEA director-general Anselmo Avenido presided over the incineration of the seized illegal drugs and expired medicines at Integrated Waste Management Thermal Oxidizer in Trece Martirez City in Cavite.
Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, said 4.3 tons of illegal drugs and expired medicines worth P2.3 billion were incinerated at the government facility.
This brings to P9.6 billion the value of dangerous drugs destroyed since July 20, 2002 when the PDEA was officially activated, Villar said.
Among the drugs destroyed were seven kilos of shabu, 444 liters of liquid shabu; more than kilos of marijuana; 248 liters of elixir syrup; 1.32 kilos of Phenobarbital; 1.76 kilos of Lomotil, and 37.9 kilos of other expired medicines.
"With every gram or milliliter of illegal drugs and other substances that is being destroyed, we are saving one Filipino from the dangerous effects of drug abuse. I hope more illegal drugs will be seized and taken away from the streets," Villar said.
For his part, Avenido declared the burned drugs were seized as evidence in 3,406 cases now pending before the courts.
Avenido said the destroyed drugs covered 406 cases from the PDEA, 255 from the National Bureau of Investigation and two from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
"This burning is meant to show the public that the government has a built-in process of disposing confiscated, seized or surrendered dangerous drugs and to erase public perception that these drugs are recycled or sold back in the streets," Avenido said.
Villar lauded the efforts made by the PDEA and other law enforcement agencies in curbing the drug menace.
He said the government has spared no one in its anti-drug campaign, citing the recent raids and closure of shabu laboratories in some areas of the country.
Villar said yesterday’s burning in Cavite represented the 10th time authorities disposed of a big volume of seized drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The drug burning came a month after PDEA uncovered the biggest illegal drug laboratory in the country located in Mandaue City in Cebu.
Authorities seized 675 kilos of shabu with a street value of P1.3 billion. Eleven people, eight of them foreigners, were arrested during the raid last month.
The biggest drug haul in recent history however was the P2.2 billion worth of illegal drugs seized in Antipolo City in Rizal in November last year.
The same amount of drugs were also seized in Valenzuela City, also last year.
The Antipolo and Valenzuela City raids were the biggest drug busts so far, dwarfing the P1 billion worth of shabu seized in Tanza, Cavite last July.
Government drug agents have made at least nine major drug busts which included the P60-million drug haul in Valenzuela City in July last year.
Among the biggest drug hauls are the discovery of a shabu laboratory at Lawang Bato, Valenzuela City on Dec. 9 last year where 656 kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of P2.2 billion was seized; the raid in Parañaque City on Nov. 1, 2002 where some 68 kilos of ephedrine, the primary ingredient in the manufacture of shabu, and 40 grams of shabu were confiscated.
Last March, the US labeled the Philippines as a major source of illegal drugs.
According to the annual report conducted by the US Department of State last March 1, the Philippines has become a major producer of shabu. The report was based on the quantity of seizures by authorities last year.
The US report also cited the Philippines as a transshipment point for further export of shabu of foreign manufacture to Japan, Australia, Korea, the United States, Guam and Saipan.
The US government further said the Philippines also produces, consumes and exports marijuana and that authorities continue to encounter difficulties stemming production.