The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency destroyed on Thursday P19.9 billion worth of illegal drugs and components like chemicals used to manufacture them.

The destruction of the drugs and their precursors was undertaken by PDEA a day after Senate and House hearings revealed that up to 70 percent of the drugs seized by law enforcement agencies ended up being resold on the streets.

In all, 3.7 tons of narcotics worth P19,965,441,929 were subjected to thermal decomposition or thermolysis at the Integrated Waste Management Inc. facility in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City in Cavite.

PDEA said in a statement the destruction was in compliance with Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, and Resolution 1-2002 issued by the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Thermolysis involves breaking down chemical compounds using extreme heat of up to 1,000 degrees centigrade, resulting in the total decomposition of the illegal drugs, the agency said.

Representatives from the police and other law enforcement agencies, local governments, as well as from the justice and interior departments witnessed the incineration.

The PDEA listed the destroyed items and their worth as follows:

Shabu, 2,715,151 grams worth P18,463,029; marijuana, 306,787 valued at P36,814,442; 407 grams of cocaine worth P2,160,916; 340 grams of ecstasy worth P1,353,813; and various chemicals.

30 percent declared

In the Senate and House hearings, rogue members of anti-drug law enforcement agencies were accused of declaring only 30 percent of the narcotics seized during their operations.

Seventy percent of the confiscated drugs were being sold back on the streets, the lawmakers were told.

The PDEA head in Taguig City and two of his men were arrested last December in a buy-bust operation inside their office.

In January, a police sergeant assigned to the PNP Drug Enforcement Group was arrested with 25 grams of shabu worth P170,000, touching off a bigger drug haul.

The arrest of the PDEA and PDEG officers raised fears the drug menace was making a comeback under the Marcos administration after being held in check under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte, reacting to the arrests, said the government cannot go soft on drug syndicates and those in government who coddle them.