DILG backs VP Leni’s call for TWG vs. illegal drugs

FILE: Robredo on her first meeting with ICAD member agencies at her office in New Manila, Quezon City on Friday afternoon. (Photo: VP Leni Robredo/Facebook)

MANILA — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday welcomed Vice President and anti-drug czar Leni Robredo’s move for the creation of a Technical Working Group (TWG) in the campaign against illegal drugs.

“We support her proposal to create a Technical Working Group that will be tasked to study, review, and recommend bills or legislative measures that will further enhance the government’s capacity to fight illegal drugs. Indeed, all amendments to existing laws and policies need to be harmonized and packaged as one when submitted to Congress,” DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.

Malaya said the agency is thankful for the opportunity to meet with Robredo, co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD), and brief her on the DILG’s efforts and hear her thoughts on future steps to combat the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.

He said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, together with the heads of all DILG attached agencies, had a long and fruitful talk with the Vice President, particularly on the need to synergize, synchronize and harmonize all the efforts of the various ICAD member-agencies.

“There may be perceived differences in so far as the strategies, policies, and programs are concerned but at the end of the day, what binds ICAD together is the commitment to eradicate the drug problem for the sake of present and future generations,” Malaya said.

Malaya also lauded the Vice President’s commitment to support the agency’s anti-illegal drug programs, particularly policies aimed at reducing demand and the Community Based Drug Rehabilitation Program.

“We likewise appreciate her initiatives to interact and engage with different sectors such as the Church and other faith-based groups which could then tap their huge network and followers to serve as advocates and volunteers in support of the anti-illegal drugs campaign of the administration,” he added.

Malaya also said the DILG is looking forward to more discussions with Robredo and the rest of the ICAD members in reviewing and fast tracking the process of delisting drug surrenderers as well as in securing more funds for community-based drug rehabilitation and improving the capacities of anti-drug abuse councils on the local government level.

“We are one with the Vice President in this difficult journey of ending the illegal drugs problem in our country that has destroyed the lives of our youth, destroyed so many families, and shattered the future of so many of our countrymen,” he said.