‘PDEA must prove it is effective to prevent its abolition’

SHORTLY after he took over the  helm of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Director General Isidro Lapeña said that the agency would have to work doubly hard to prove that it was effective in neutralizing the drug problem.

Lapeña issued the statement in response to President Duterte’s earlier threat to abolish the PDEA for being “contaminated” by personnel accused of protecting drug lords.

“When the President says something, it has basis,” Lapeña said, stressing that “we have to show that PDEA is an agency that works for the purpose it was created for. And if we have done that, then the abolition might not happen anymore.”

At the same time, he said that  a three to six-month deadline to stamp out the illegal drug trade  was “doable.”

According to Lapeña, the timetable was a strong warning to those involved in the illegal drugs trade.  “It will be a relentless, strong effort. It will be very risky for them [illegal drug manufacturers and distributors]; it would be as good as suicide,” he said.