Vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he prefers to handle the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) portfolio in case he wins in the May 2022 national elections.
‘’I will be able to implement the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 completely, Republic Act (RA) 9165 of which I was the principal author of and created the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA),’’ Sotto said on Saturday night, Feb. 26 during a CNN Philippines-sponsored debate among seven of the nine vice presidential candidates.
Sotto is the running mate of presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Sotto, a former DDB chairman, said the present situation calls the government's attention to the problem of drug abuse, not just illegal drugs.
‘’Those are different animals. Kapag ang inasikaso mo lang ay ang supply reduction strategy na enforcement lamang at may kakulangan sa (When you concentrate on the supply reduction strategy which is law enforcement, there is shortage in) prosecution. You will never solve the problem of illegal drugs,’’ he said.
‘’But if you concentrate on prevention and rehabilitation, which is partly the demand reduction strategy that is necessary to combat it, I feel we will be able to complete and implement well the laws that we have passed before,’’ he added.