{"id":111508,"date":"2017-08-11T04:51:05","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T08:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=111508"},"modified":"2017-08-11T04:51:05","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T08:51:05","slug":"doj-no-conflict-between-pdea-boc-on-anti-drug-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/11\/doj-no-conflict-between-pdea-boc-on-anti-drug-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ: No conflict between PDEA, BOC on anti-drug mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This<\/a>
This was the legal opinion made by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in connection with the request letter of PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lape\u00f1a. (pna photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Aug. 11<\/strong>\u2014 There is no conflict of authority between the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) on the custody and disposition of seized drug evidence with respect to the country\u2019s customs laws.<\/p>\n

This was the legal opinion made by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in connection with the request letter of PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lape\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

Aguirre said it is clear under Section 21 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, that \u201cthe PDEA shall take charge and have custody of all dangerous drugs, controlled precursors, and essential chemicals\u2026so confiscated, seized and\/or surrendered for proper disposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), according to Aguirre has strengthened PDEA\u2019s authority on seized contrabands when it stated under Section 1147 \u201cthat the dangerous drugs shall be turned over to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo note, PDEA serves as the implementing arm of the Dangerous Drugs Board and is responsible for the efficient and effective law enforcement of all the provisions on any dangerous drug and\/or controlled precursor and essential chemical as provided under RA 9165,\u201d Aguirre said in his legal opinion dated July 27, 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, since the subject statutes are clear and free from ambiguity, it must be given its literal meaning and applied without attempted interpretation,\u201d Aguirre added.<\/p>\n

For his part, Lape\u00f1a welcomes the opinion made by Justice Secretary.<\/p>\n

Lape\u00f1a\u2019s letter came on the heels of congressional inquiry on the seizure of more than PHP6-billion illegal drugs in Valenzuela.<\/p>\n

Lape\u00f1a, in his letter, said there are incidents that BOC personnel has refused to cooperate in their investigation citing exclusive authority over the seized contrabands under Republic Act 10863 or the CMTA.<\/p>\n

The PDEA Chief said there have been instances where the BOC disposes of equipment used in the manufacture of illegal drugs, hindering their investigation to identify and arrest \u201cbig fishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the DOJ, there is no conflict of authority between PDEA and BOC relative to the custody and disposition of confiscated illegal drugs. The categorical command of Section 21 of RA 9165 says that PDEA shall remain the custodial authority over drug evidence seized even if it is an anti-drug operation conducted by BOC,\u201d Lape\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the CMTA has confirmed and strengthened PDEA\u2019s authority on the custody of seized dangerous drugs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Section 214 of CMTA states that restricted goods, including illegal drugs, which were seized shall be turned over immediately to BOC unless provided under existing laws, rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CMTA provision, however, provided for an exception when other existing laws can be relevant. In this case, the provision of Section 21 of RA 9165 will be applied. This means that PDEA has the sole custodial authority of confiscated dangerous drugs,\u201d Lape\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n

In addition, in lieu of Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), PDEA, as its implementing arm, should have the authority to dispose of illegal drugs confiscated by the BOC pursuant to the provision of Section 1147 of CMTA.<\/p>\n

The confusion emerged from the refusal of BOC personnel to turn-over seized illegal drugs to PDEA and being uncooperative with investigations conducted by the Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a matter of fact, there have been incidences where BOC asserted exclusive authority over the contrabands pursuant to their jurisdiction over importations of restricted goods, as provided in the CMTA.\u00a0 The BOC also disposed of seized instruments and equipment for the manufacture of dangerous drugs according to their rules,\u201d Lape\u00f1a noted.<\/p>\n

Due to the supposed conflict of authority, PDEA has lost its opportunity to investigate, identify, arrest and prosecute high-profile drug personalities in the past.<\/p>\n

On May 26, 2017, the PHP6 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, were recovered during separate raids by combined elements of PDEA Regional Office-National Capital Region (PDEA RO-NCR), BOC, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation, in two warehouses in Valenzuela City. The packs of shabu were shipped into the country and passed through the BOC\u2019s green or express lane.<\/p>\n

Lape\u00f1a said that BOC has violated operational protocols by turning over the seized shabu to the NBI instead to PDEA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not even bother to coordinate with us immediately upon learning the shabu shipment in the first place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The BOC also has received flak for mishandling procedures and contaminating the evidence that was meant for a possible controlled delivery operation, an investigative technique of allowing an unlawful consignment of dangerous drugs and substances to be tracked, leading to the identification and arrest of the intended receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law, given its literal meaning, is very clear. PDEA shall take charge and have custody and disposition of all dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals and laboratory equipment confiscated in anti-drug operations,\u201d the PDEA chief said.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Aug. 11\u2014 There is no conflict of authority between the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Bureau of Customs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":111511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[21067,20745,13864,21066,18680],"class_list":["post-111508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-boc-on-anti-drug-mandate","tag-bureau-of-customs-boc","tag-justice-secretary-vitaliano-aguirre-ii","tag-no-conflict-between-pdea","tag-philippine-drug-enforcement-agency-pdea","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}