Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino on Thursday said that he has written a letter to members of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) to follow some of her recommendations during her brief stint as drug czarina.

In a press briefing in Malacañang in relation to the updated social cards for Real Numbers Philippines from July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2019, Aquino said during their fellowship with ICAD on Tuesday, he told them that once they received Robredo’s recommendation, it will be beneficial to follow it.

Aquino made the statement as his reaction after the Vice President stated that she will be presenting her report as former ICAD co-chair.

“Last Tuesday we had an ICAD fellowship. I just hoped na naimbitahan ko pa ang ating Vice President during our fellowship, Christmas fellowship. And during that time, I presented to the ICAD members kung ano ang mga recommendations ng ating Vice President. And sabi ko naman, if it would be beneficial to the ICAD, why not; let’s follow her recommendation,” Aquino said.

“I distributed the letters to all ICAD members, and I asked them to comply, on the concerned agencies kung ano iyong mga dapat i-comply doon.”

“Sabi ko, hindi naman masama iyong sinabi ng ating Vice President sa nakita niyang mga recommendations to strengthen our drug efforts. Kaya doon pa lang sabi ko sisingilin ko kayo by January, lahat ng concerned agencies, gusto ko mayroon kayong sagot doon sa mga recommendations ng Vice President natin,” he added.

At the same time, Aquino urged the Vice President to open up and reveal to them what she claims she has discovered regardless if its good or bad.

“If there is, I urge her to open up. Hindi kailangan itago, kung ano iyong discoveries na nakita niya whether it’s good or bad for the administration, then go,” he added.

When asked to clarify if he has already read the VP’s report, Aquino said he is only assuming her discoveries/recommendations as former ICAD co-chair.

“So iyon lang in-assume ko kasi mahaba iyon eh, doon sa letter niya kay Presidente. And from there nga, binigyan ko na lahat ng kopya iyong mga ICAD members. So in-assume ko lang na iyon iyong mga discoveries niya,” Aquino said.

On his assessment of Robredo’s performance as drug czarina, Aquino said its hard to give a rating considering her short stint as ICAD co-chair.

“Naging okay naman iyong performance niya during our time, pero siyempre hindi ko maano eh, makuha iyong talagang ano eh, ma-rate siya. It’s just two weeks, papaano mo mare-rate iyong ano na ganoon,” Aquino said.

On other hand, Aquino said among the missteps the Vice President committed is her failure to meet the four clusters of ICAD namely: Law Enforcement, Justice, Advocacy and Rehabilitation and Reintegration.

“Ang sinasabi ko na siguro missteps ang nangyari sa kaniya na sana she should have met all the four clusters. Iyon lang ang nagiging problema eh, na sana pina-plan-out (plan-out) kung ano bang gagawin ko para maintindihan ko muna. Sana inasikaso muna niya iyong ICAD which is a very, very important committee so she could learn everything from there,” Aquino said.

“So, how would you understand everything if you are not meeting these people? And yet, now you’re meeting with other agencies, other foreign groups or what, na iyong mismong drug situation sa mga bansa na iyon, mas malaki pa ang problema nila kaysa sa atin,” he added.

On her request to have acceas to the high-value target list, she will not be seeing anything there.

“Kahit may access siya sa high-value targets, palagay ko wala naman siyang makikita doon eh. Kaya what’s the use? Just like me ‘no as the ICAD Chair, I didn’t need to know kung ano iyon, kung sino iyong mga nasa listahan na iyon. What’s important is that my people are complying with the targets every month – that they should commit a number of high-value targets to be arrested, iyon ang importante doon eh,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aquino said that the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is currently conducting a national survey to determine exactly how many drug users and pushers are there in the country.

Aquino said the survey was started by the DDB last August and it is expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2020.

Aquino admitted that Robredo was right when she discovered that there is no scientific baseline data on drug users and that’s the reason why the DDB is doing something about it.

He also said that the government started its drug war without any scientific basis.

“We have 4 million kaya lang hindi siya masyadong scientific, hindi ganun ka-accurate and that’s the reason why the DDB is doing something to have a better and more accurate and more scientific way of getting the figure,” he said.

As to the number of local drug groups in the Philippines, there are about 186 of them operating in the country, said Aquino.

Aquino said he has no list of foreign drug groups but the biggest is the Dragon Wu Group.

“Iyung recent na nahuli natin together with Bureau of Immigration si Mr. Hong Liangyi is a Chinese drug lord. He’s the one who facilitated the clandestine drug laboratory in Batangas, Malabon and Tagaytay. Siya ‘yung pinaka-head, siya ‘yung pinaka-top. He was arrested by the Immigration and we coordinated with them para sa kanyang hold departure order. Luckily, tumimbre because lalabas na ito papuntang Istanbul. (Turkey],” Aquino said.

“So far sampu na ‘yung naaresto natin na members of Dragon Wu group,” he added.

Law enforcement agencies on Thursday said a total of 220,728 drug personalities have been arrested while 5,552 others were recorded killed as a result of the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Spokesperson Director Derrick Carreon made the announcement as he presented the updated numbers in relation to the drug war.

Carreon told reporters thar a total of 151,601 anti-drug operations were conducted by the PDEA, the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies nationwide.

He also said PDEA and other law enforcement agencies had dismantled a total of 14 illegal drug manufacturing labs or drug laboratories/drug dens which served as one-stop shop for sellers and buyers of illegal drugs.

As a result during the period, a total of 419 drug dens nationwide were dismantled by law enforcement authorities.

Also, a total of P40.39 billion worth of illegal drugs were seized for the period. Of the figure, 5,182.52 kilograms of shabu worth P31.25 billion were seized by PDEA and other law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Carreon said for one of the flagship projects of ICAD and the anti-drug campaign in the barangay drug clearing program, some 16,706 barangays (about 55 percent) were cleared; while 17,175 barangays are yet to be cleared as of November 30, 2019:

PNP Spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said a a total of 726 government workers including 347 government employees, 297 elected officials and 82 uniformed personnel were arrested for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

On minors involved in illegal drugs activities since the start of Duterte’s administration, Banac said a total of 2,799 minors involved in illegal drug activities were rescued during anti-drug operations conducted by authorities nationwide. He said these children were turned over to the local social welfare offices.

On high value targets, a total of 8,185 high value targets were arrested for the period composed of 222 foreign nationals, 297 elected officials, 82 uniformed personnel, 347 government employees, 725 drug group leaders or members, 2,290 target listed personalities, 57 armed group members, 813 drug den maintenors, 191 wanted listed personalities, 10 celebrities or prominent personalities and 3,151 personalities arrested from this high-impact operations.

A total of 485,295 surrenderers have benefitted from the Recovery and Wellness Program initiated by the PNP and other supportive community reformation centers including Bahay Silangan Reformation Centers with 965 beneficiaries.