A resolution would be forthcoming as soon as possible.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) wants a limited role for Vice President Leni Robredo as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

PNP officer-in-charge PLt. Gen. Archie Gamboa said he believes that the country’s second highest official could be more effective in enhancing ICAD’s advocacy and rehabilitation clusters rather than dipping her hands in law enforcement matters.

Gamboa stressed that operations and law enforcement concerns should be better left in the hands of relevant agencies such as the PNP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which comprise the law enforcement cluster of ICAD.

He said law enforcement and prosecution “could be best left to those who know it.”

“The entire ICAD is composed of four different subcommittees or four different thrusts. Why would VP (Vice President) not take the advocacy and the rehabilitation? Aren’t they connected to what she said before that illegal drugs are actually a health problem?” Gamboa told reporters at Camp Crame.

“So, probably that could fall on advocacy and rehabilitation. But law enforcement and prosecution or on the justice could be best left to those who know it, which are the PNP and the PDEA, NBI for law enforcement and the Department of Justice (DoJ) for justice,” he added.

Gamboa maintained there is no need for Robredo to get her hands on the list of high-value targets in the government’s anti-narcotics drive, and countered the Vice President’s earlier statement that it is part of her duty as co-chair of the ICAD.

“When you say co-chairpersonship in ICAD, remember it is a collegial body and it’s supposed to be policymaking, you’re supposed to review. It’s fine if you want to review the law enforcement campaign,” Gamboa stated.

“But would it really matter if you know who are on the list? Remember the PDEA is the head of the law enforcement cluster. Whatever the head says, I would always respect it being a member of the law enforcement cluster. So, yes, I adhere to what the PDEA director general says,” he added, referring to PDEA chief Aaron Aquino.

It was Aquino who first disclosed that Robredo requested for a copy of the list.

Aquino, over the weekend, clarified that PDEA did not turn down Robredo’s request, but that it would only give the Vice President a copy “under strict confidentiality.”

The list, according to Aquino, is a classified document which is the reason why “not everybody must have a copy of it.”

“Imagine what will happen to the efforts of law enforcement if that list landed on wrong hands?” Aquino asked.

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday reiterated his warning to the government in its dealing with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which reported that 10 million Filipinos are drug dependents.

During the budget deliberations for the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), Sotto inquired about the exact number of Filipinos who were admitted to rehabilitation centers.

In response, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was sponsoring the DDB and PDEA budgets, said that as of June 2019, a total of 2,211 drug dependents classified as “severe cases” are confined to various private and public hospitals, while about 144,000 are currently undergoing community-based rehabilitation programs as of September.

“That’s why we should be very careful with our relationship with United Nations, especially the UNODC. It believes what is read in the newspapers. That’s why the name of our country is being tainted,” Sotto said.

This came after he narrated that he once attended a convention held by the UNODC where the inter-state body claimed that there are 10 million drug dependents in the Philippines.

“I attended a United Nations Drug and Crime Convention in Vienna, Austria and the reason I attended is the UNODC was saying that in their report there are 10 million drug dependents in the Philippines,” he said.

Sotto said that he was surprised that the UNODC has claimed such huge number as compared to their report on China where they only cited 500,000 drug dependents.

“I asked them how many drug dependents are there in China. There are over a billion people in China. How many drug dependents do they have? And they told me, if I’m not mistaken, less than 500,000 drug dependents in China,” Sotto said.

According to Sotto, the UNODC told him that it based its number from the figures from the rehabilitation centers in China.

“So, I told them if that will be the basis, the Philippines will only have a thousand (drug dependents),” he added.

It will be recalled that the United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted an Iceland-initiated resolution that sought to launch a probe of the administration’s drug war after member-countries voted 18-14 last 11 July in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sotto pushed for additional budget for the information drive of the DDB, which includes the funding for the Drug Information Portal and the new drug test equipment, which will only cost P23 million.

Relatedly, the case of former PNP chief retired Gen. Oscar Albayalde and 13 alleged “ninja cops” was submitted for resolution by the DoJ.

The DoJ, according to Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Alexander Suarez, head of the panel of prosecutors handling the preliminary investigation of the case, said they hope to come up with a resolution as soon as possible.

“Not particularly 90 days. We cannot give you a specific period when it will be resolved but definitely a resolution would be forthcoming as soon as possible,” Suarez said.

On the other hand, PLt. Dennis Wagas of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group expressed optimism that the DoJ would find probable cause to prosecute the respondents.

Aside from Suarez, the other members of the panel are Assistant State Prosecutors Josie Christina Dugay and Gino Paolo Santiago.

In yesterday’s hearing, the panel disclosed that all the respondents had submitted their rejoinder-affidavits, except for PMSgt. Ronald Santos, who waived his right to take part in the preliminary investigation.

Apart from Albayalde and Santos, also named as respondents by the DoJ were PMaj. Rodney Baloyo IV, PCapt. Joven de Guzman Jr., PMSgt. Jules Maniago, Donald Roque, Rommel Muñoz Vital and Eligio Valeroso, PSSgt. Dindo Dizon, Gilbert de Vera and Encarnacion Guerrero Jr. and Cpl. Anthony Lacsamana.

The case stemmed from the anomalous November 2013 anti-illegal drug raid in Mexico, Pampanga where the raiding cops, led by Baloyo, allegedly seized more than 200 kilograms of shabu, but declared them as merely 36 kilos, and P10 million cash from suspected drug lord Johnson Lee.

At that time, Albayalde was serving as Pampanga police provincial director.