BACK TO HAPPY DAYS FOR DRUGGIES – The decision of President Duterte to remove the Philippine National Police (PNP) from his war on drugs may be ill-timed as it made when the campaign against this menace is already succeeding.

Not that we do not trust the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s capability to finish the drug war, but there is doubt it can fill in the shoes of PNP with its limited manpower in every province in the country.

Just last week, the PNP again reiterated its previous target to make Pangasinan drug-free by December this year. With them out in this war, there is a strong possibility that target date may not be met.

We were informed that there are only six PDEA agents in Pangasinan. So, effectively, there is only one PDEA agent per congressional district.

What can one PDEA agent do in one district given the magnitude of drug problem in one district?

It is this limited manpower and logistics of PDEA at present that many are asking the President to reconsider his decision excluding the PNP from the drug war.

In Pangasinan, PNP provincial director Ronald Oliver Lee had been zealously working side by side with PDEA that resulted in the clearing of about 96 to 98 percent of Pangasinan from illegal drugs.

With Anda becoming the eighth town in Pangasinan declared as drug-free, that leaves only just 30 barangays to be cleared before the province can be completely declared drug-free.

But with the PDEA now solely in charge of continuing the war on drugs, there is a strong possibility, the drug peddlers may already be rejoicing that happy days are here again.

The worst that can happen is to see some of those already declared drug-cleared barangays sliding back to become drug-affected again because the police have shifted their war to motorcycle riding criminals.

Remember that when the PNP was ordered to suspend its activities in anti-illegal drugs campaign last January because of a reported rubout of a Korean national on the pretext as an anti-drug operation, many of drug personalities that surrendered returned to their old habits – pushing and using drugs.

This time, the decision to pull out the PNP may have been prompted by the unfounded claims by the church, the leftists, political opposition and by foreign observers of alleged extra-judicial killings.

With its men spread in all towns and cities and even the barangays, the PNP proved it was a vital cog and an able partner of PDEA in the campaign against drugs.

We hope that after some soul-searching, the President will order the return of PNP to the war on drugs.  – Leonardo Micua

 

GALLIVANTING CITY HALL EMPLOYEES. – I have been observing lately that some Dagupan City Hall employees have the habit of walking around the nearby public markets during office hours.

No, they are not from the Market Division. They belong to other departments whose tasks require them to stay in their offices.

Namamalengke sila habang oras ng trabaho. How do I know they are from Dagupan City Hall? Simple. They are in their uniforms.

I see them because whenever time permits me, I buy vegetables and fruits for home consumption in Dagupan public markets.

This observation about government employees in the market during office hours is not exclusive to Dagupan. It happens to practically almost all municipal/city hall offices.

I also see government employees loitering in malls and public markets or restaurants. Okay lang siguro kung napadaan lang kasi may pinuntahan na official business sa isa pang government office.

But what could a government employee of an LGU in Pangasinan doing in a gym inside a mall in Dagupan during office hour? Or, a government employee frequenting a famous restaurant in Dagupan during office hours?

You want names? Let’s have coffee.

And by the way, speaking of malls, mall management should direct the security guards not to allow children begging for alms in parking areas.  Children are supposed to enjoy playing and studying, not begging for alms for their family.— Eva Visperas

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