By Aaron Recuenco
Law enforcement groups are now crafting a protocol of cooperation against all the remaining illegal drugs syndicates operating in Metro Manila following the declaration of alliance of their top officials on Friday.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) P/Maj. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar (PHOTO FROM PIO NCRPO / FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the move was to identify and come up with operational plans against all the drugs syndicates and drug personalities who continue to distribute shabu and other illegal drugs in Metro Manila.
"This is a breakthrough and good starting point of whole-government approach against illegal drugs at least here in Metro Manila. We hope to consolidate all our efforts to work as one and to move as one to deal a big blow to drugs syndicates," said Eleazar.
He was referring to the formal alliance forged on Friday among the heads of the Phillipine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) National Capital Region (NCR), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) NCR, the military's Joint Task Force-NCR, and the NCRPO.
The heads of the four law enforcement agencies in Metro Manila-- PDEA-NCR director Joel Plaza, NBI-NCR head lawyer Cesar Bacani, JTF-NCR commander Brig. Gen. Alexander Cruz Luna and Eleazar-- held a meeting on Friday to come up with guidelines on how the four government agencies would together to address the illegal drugs problems.
"We are all here to show a united stand for the campaign against illegal drugs by forming the first-ever formal alliance of the PDEA-NCR, NCRPO, NBI-NCR and the JTF-NCR to run after the scalawags in our ranks, consolidate our intelligence and operational plans to shield Metro Manila from the entry of new drug supplies and at the same time, sweep all the illegal drugs that have already been distributed in the metropolis," their joint statement read.
"Our goal is clear: No compromise among our ranks and zero tolerance against who continuously defy and brazenly challenge the government might against illegal drugs," it added.
It was Eleazar who initiated the meeting after the controversy brought by allegations of recycling of confiscated illegal drugs in the PNP. The Senate has invited top PNP officials on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
"The campaign against illegal drugs by President Duterte has been very successful and this is manifested by the 58 percent decrease of crime rate in Metro Manila in the past three years. Based on the intelligence reports of not only the NCRPO but also the PDEA, NBI, and the military, drugs syndicates are now having difficulty making transactions as compared before," said Eleazar.
"The government has already accomplished a lot but these accomplishments are always sidelined by these allegations of recycling and ninja cops. So we decided to act on this and that is the reason that we were able to establish the Quad-Intelligence Force of NCRPO, PDEA, NBI anf JTF-NCR," he added.
Eleazar said there would be intelligence-sharing among the four law enforcement agencies, and the result would be used to come up with the list of priority targets in the campaign against illegal drugs in Metro Manila.
But this early, one of the priorities that has emerged is Guia Castro, a barangay chairperson in Sampaloc, Manila who was tagged as Metro Manila's 'Drug Queen'.
While the PDEA, NBI and the NCRPO have already launched successful operations in the past that led to the arrest of Castro's several relatives and drug couriers, the Quad-Intel Force is expected to run after Castro and her alleged remaining distributors.
But Eleazar said Castro was just one of the targets since intelligence reports revealed that she remains as one of the key operators of drug distribution in Metro Manila.