{"id":259544,"date":"2020-06-27T04:01:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T08:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259544"},"modified":"2020-06-27T04:41:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-27T08:41:04","slug":"ddb-to-polish-delisting-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/27\/ddb-to-polish-delisting-process\/","title":{"rendered":"DDB to polish \u2018delisting\u2019 process"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
During a webinar conducted by the DDB on Friday, Undersecretary Benjamin Reyes said they are trying to polish the delisting process. (File photo<\/a>: Dangerous Drugs Board\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is in the process of creating a regulation on the delisting of persons erroneously included on its watch list.<\/p>\n

During a webinar conducted by the DDB on Friday, Undersecretary Benjamin Reyes said they are trying to polish the delisting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay\u00a0<\/em>validation process\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency),\u00a0pulis at sa barangay. May proseso tayong ipapasok diyan para maiwasan. Dadaan yan sa masusing proseso para wala yung mga ganyang napagbibintangan<\/em>\u00a0(The PDEA, the police, and the barangay have a validation process. We will include a process to prevent the listing of a person by mistake),” Reyes said.<\/p>\n

The chief of the DDB\u2019s Legal Affairs Division, lawyer Philip Joseph Vera Cruz, said persons who use drugs (PWUDs) who have undergone and completed treatment and rehabilitation may also be delisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelisting is an essential tool that is needed to ensure that those who have undertaken and have successfully completed interventions are no longer subject to law enforcement operations or activities.\u00a0Tinatanggal na natin sila sa<\/em>\u00a0sphere\u00a0sa loob ng<\/em>\u00a0law enforcement.\u00a0Ang kanila talaga<\/em>\u00a0is health and social intervention\u00a0ang kailangan<\/em>\u00a0(We remove them from the sphere of law enforcement. What they need are health and social interventions),\u201d Vera Cruz said.<\/p>\n

He said the DDB targets PWUDs who need intervention and profiles them for proper and appropriate interventions based on their needs.<\/p>\n

Vera Cruz said drug dependents and drug users, considered as PWUDs, are classified under the watch list, target list,\u00a0or wanted list.<\/p>\n

Persons on the watch list are being validated by law enforcement agencies. \u201cSo, basically, they are currently under investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Those on the target list have been validated. \u201cMeron na po tayong<\/em>\u00a0validated information\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0indeed involved\u00a0po sila sa<\/em>\u00a0illegal drug activities (We have validated information that indeed they are involved in illegal drug activities),\u201d Vera Cruz said.<\/p>\n

He said those on the wanted list have pending cases in court and those who are \u201cfugitives from justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Isang<\/em>\u00a0document\u00a0na pwedeng gamitin<\/em>\u00a0to delist a certain person from the watch list or target list\u00a0ng ating mga<\/em>\u00a0law enforcement agencies is\u00a0yung ini<\/em>-issue ng court\u00a0na nagsasabing ang<\/em>\u00a0patient is discharged\u00a0na po<\/em>\u00a0from treatment and rehabilitation (One document that may be used by law enforcement agencies to delist a person from the watch list or target list is that which is issued by the court, stating that the patient has undergone treatment and rehabilitation),\u201d Vera Cruz said.<\/p>\n

A court issues a discharge order when the PWUD has undertaken and completed treatment and rehabilitation in a center accredited by the Department of Health, as well as aftercare.<\/p>\n

The Department of Social Welfare and Development will soon launch a program called \u201cYakap Bayan<\/em>\u201d designed to help local governments by providing them with technical assistance on how to effectively handle PWUDs from their rehabilitation to their reintegration into their families.<\/p>\n

Vera Cruz, however, clarified that delisting those who have criminal liabilities other than drug use is another matter.<\/p>\n

“Kapag sinabing<\/em>\u00a0PWUDs\u00a0na may<\/em>\u00a0clearance or certificate\u00a0na, ito yung mga<\/em>\u00a0purely drug use\u00a0lang<\/em>,\u00a0walang ginawang<\/em>\u00a0criminal act or liability. Cleared\u00a0na siya dun lang sa paggamit<\/em>\u00a0(When you say PWUDs with clearance or certificate, these are those whose cases are purely drug use and have not done any other criminal act. They have been cleared for the use of drugs),\u201d he said. \u201cIbang usapan pag ang tao ay may<\/em>\u00a0criminal liability,\u00a0may<\/em>\u00a0pending case\u00a0sa kanya. Yung<\/em>\u00a0rehabilitation\u00a0pwede lang para mabawasan yung<\/em>\u00a0term of imprisonment\u00a0pero hindi mawawala ang kaniyang<\/em>\u00a0criminal liability (The process is different for those who have criminal liability, those who have pending cases against them. Their rehabilitation may be used to reduce the term of their imprisonment but their criminal liability stands).\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Interior Undersecretary Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri said the delisting process for government officials involved in illegal drugs is longer and different compared to the process for private citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the law, for government officials who are considered PWUDs,\u00a0medyo may<\/em>\u00a0aggravating circumstance,\u00a0kaya medyo mas mahabang proseso ang kinakailangan na<\/em>\u00a0due process for them for the delisting (there is an aggravating circumstance that makes the delisting process longer). Let\u2019s say (a) barangay official or mayor (is) involved.\u00a0Ibang usapan yan, fina-<\/em>file-an na namin ng kaso yan sa<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman (We file charges against them at the Ombudsman) and we allow the Ombudsman to decide on the matter,” Echiverri said.<\/p>\n

Secretary Catalino Cuy, DDB chairman, said the government campaign against illegal drugs has never been more relevant, especially now that the country is grappling with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as saving lives, we are also saving the future of our people,\u201d Cuy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is in the process of creating a regulation on the delisting of persons …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":259545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-marita-moaje","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259544","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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259546,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259544\/revisions\/259546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}