Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Sophisticated foreign-based drug trafficking syndicates remain the biggest challenge to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and other law enforcement units engaged in the campaign against illegal drugs valued at over $8.4 billion (about P368.2 billion) a year.
From only three in 2008, the number of transnational drug organizations operating in the Philippines has increased to nine, said the United States' State Department's 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, which is posted on the website of the US embassy in Manila.
"The West African drugs syndicate continues to infiltrate the Philippines with their operations. There is an increase in the recruitment of OFWs to smuggle cocaine and heroin in and out of the country," said the report.
These drug couriers "smuggle and transport illegal drugs to China, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Several Filipinos, mostly women, are jailed abroad for drug trafficking and face severe prison sentences, including the death penalty in countries such as China," it also said.
The State Department noted that "although the Philippines is not a regional financial center, the illegal drug trade in the country has evolved into a billion-dollar industry."
"The Philippines continues to experience an increase in foreign organized criminal activities from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Insurgency groups operating in the Philippines partially fund their activities through local crime and the trafficking of narcotics and arms, and engage in money laundering through ties to organized crime. The proceeds of corruption are also a source of laundered funds," it said.
The agency also reported that "wholesale quantities of crystal methamphetamine (commonly known as shabu) are smuggled into the Philippines and continues to be manufactured clandestinely in the country."
"Precursor chemicals are smuggled into the country from China, India, and Taiwan through international airports, seaports, the mails, as well as via large unpatrolled expanses of the Philippine coastline," it said.
The Washington DC-based agency said "traffickers increasingly take advantage of the Philippines' long and porous maritime borders to use the country as a transit point for high-grade cocaine and heroin shipments, primarily from India and Pakistan."
It also reported that "Chinese and Taiwanese chemists continue to establish clandestine laboratories in the Philippines for the manufacture of methamphetamine production. These organizations remain the most influential foreign drug-trafficking groups in the Philippines and control domestic methamphetamine production. These traffickers typically produce methamphetamine in relatively small-scale clandestine meth labs commonly referred to as "kitchen-type" labs, which more easily avoid detection by law enforcement authorities."
Shabu "ranks first in availability and remains the primary drug of choice in the Philippines," where approximately 95 percent of arrested drug users are addicted to the illegal drug.
The 2009 United Nations World Drug Report said the Philippines "ranks fifth in the world in terms of methamphetamine hydrochloride seizures in the last 10 years and has remained a significant source of high-potency crystalline methamphetamine used both domestically and exported to locations in East and Southeast Asia and Oceania."
Manila is also a primary source of shabu for Hawaii and Guam, said the State Department.
But the agency said, "intensified nationwide counter-narcotics operations by Philippine law enforcement agencies have apparently contributed to a reduction in drug supply, in as much as drug prices have been erratic in areas of increased enforcement."
It cited the Philippine government for making anti-narcotics law enforcement one of its top priorities.
"In general, law enforcement agencies such as PDEA, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Customs actively pursue counter-narcotics enforcement operations. Although each agency is diligent in its efforts to carry out its mission, their efforts are hampered by a lack of inter-agency cooperation at higher levels. Severe budgetary constraints also restrict operations and training," it said.
According to the agency, PDEA "remains too small to address the entire nation's problems with the trafficking and sale of illicit drugs. It currently relies on other agencies for personnel assistance."
"However, PDEA has established stronger regulatory guidelines and practices, and if provided necessary resources, should continue to develop into an effective drug enforcement agency," it said.
The PNP's Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force "has been an effective drug law enforcement unit and scored several successes in 2009," according to the State Department.
Compared with PDEA and PNP, the NBI "has played a smaller role in drug enforcement due to its very limited manpower and multi-mission focus. However, its investigative and technical expertise is vital to the overall Philippine counter-narcotics efforts, especially in more complex investigations."
In its report, the State Department also said Washington plans to continue working with the Philippine government in the "training of anti-narcotics personnel, intelligence-gathering, and infrastructure development."
"Strengthening bilateral counter-narcotics relationship serves the national interests of both the US and the Philippines," it added.
On the reported activities of Filipino drug couriers abroad, it said the government had "taken measures to combat these by coordinating efforts between Philippine law enforcement agencies and the Department of Foreign Affairs."
"Intensified counter-narcotics operations by law enforcement agencies have apparently contributed to a reduction in drug supply," it also said.
It also reported that Chinese and Taiwanese chemists "rent apartment units, condominiums, and houses in small villages and affluent residential areas" in the Philippines.
