'Big guns' targeted in anti-drug campaign

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is now going heavy on chasing after the "big guns" in the illegal drug trade in the country, as his administration shifted its campaign from intensified rehabilitation to a new strategy that would focus on the supply side, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, Remulla said a new strategy in the fight against illegal drugs was discussed during a meeting with the President and the heads of the law enforcement agencies in Malacañang on Monday. "For the longest time, we have been concentrating on the consumption side — arresting them on street levels, arresting them on crimes they committed on a buy-bust. This time, we are going heavy on the supply side chasing after the big guns, the big suppliers, the main men involved in the importation of drugs," Remulla said during a Palace press conference. Remulla said the officials of the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) met again on Tuesday following an intelligence report that the top source of the drug trade in the country remains inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. "The number one source [of the] drug trade is apparently still inside Muntinlupa jail," he said. This developed as Marcos ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), DoJ, PDEA and PNP to strengthen the collaboration among law enforcement agencies in its war on illegal drugs. Remulla said that the President brought up to the key officials about the continued presence of high-value detainees in Muntinlupa dealing with illegal drug trade. "He (the President) knows; he was the one who told us about it," the DILG chief said. Remulla also said that the trend in the seizures of small-time drug peddlers was what prompted Marcos to declare war against the big suppliers. "The small-time seizures on the ground keep growing. Obviously, there is something wrong if these are the only ones getting arrested," he said. Remulla said Marcos pointed out how the drug trade has become more sophisticated, prompting the administration to refocus its own drug war into going after the big players. "The drug trade is more sophisticated now. They use more sophisticated methods and distribution; they use cryptocurrency to hide their proceeds. So it's a different war altogether," he said. The DILG chief also disclosed that the government identified those who are possibly involved in the large-scale drug trade within the Muntinlupa jail.