APRIL 16, 2012 DATE

NR # 2711
REF. NO.

Lawmakers concerned about involvement of minors in the illegal drugs trade

Even with the reported declining trend of illegal drugs use in the country, the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs is now crafting appropriate amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, giving focus on drug offenders who are minors. The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chaired by Rep. Vicente F. Belmonte, Jr. is also preparing a resolution to elevate the drug problem as a national security threat. The chairman has directed the creation of a technical working group (TWG) to craft the possible amendments to the drugs law. The committee, during its last public hearing, deliberated on four separate resolutions filed by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) and Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. of Abante Mindanao Party-list (HR 855), Rep. Jeci Lapus (HR 1662), Ako Bicol Party-list Reps. Christopher Co, Rodel Batocabe and Alfredo Garbin, Jr. (HR 1680), and Party-list Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino (HR 1765). During said inquiry, the members raised clarificatory question on the abuse of toluene or contact cement, the actual number of drug users and the number of detention facilities for youth offenders. The lawmakers also raised the idea of the conduct of a national household survey on drug use to give the panel all the possible statistics or data needed by Congress to craft a more responsive law to neutralize this global social menace of drug abuse. The Rodriguez brothers, in HR 855, stated that the US State Department has reported that illegal drugs remain a significant problem in the Philippines due to corruption and poor law enforcement. The US report, they said, was bolstered by a United Nations report entitled 2010 Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-type Stimulants (ATS) and Other Drugs: Asia and the Pacific by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) saying that a total of 1.7 million Filipinos use illegal drugs, particularly the so-called shabu. The same report, however, stated that the trend is on the decline from a high of 6.7 million in 2004 as reported by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA). Despite the improvement and despite the laudable efforts of the PDEA, there is still room for improvement and the government must still increase its efforts to curb drug use and eventually totally eliminate it in the country, the Rodriguez siblings stressed.

APRIL 16, 2012 DATE

NR # 2711
REF. NO.

On the other hand, Rep. Palatino said it may be helpful to consider four type of drug law offenders, as identified by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), and develop different ways in which they can be dealt with under the law instead of having a blanket penalty for all users and possessors of dangerous drugs regardless of their degrees of use and dependence and regardless of the circumstances surrounding their use and possession. According to the IDPC, there are four broad types of drug law offenders and identifying and qualifying them under the law may help countries in effectively dealing with the problem of narcotics use: (a) recreational or casual use; (b) dependent drug users; (c) Social or low-level dealers; and (d) serious or organized dealers, Palatino said. For their part, the three Ako Bicol lawmakers noted that even with the noteworthy efforts of the PDEA as demonstrated in their numerous operations conducted and drug cases filed, conviction of suspected drug criminals is a cause of concern because of the alarming one percent (1%) rate of convictions. In 2008, among the 12,381 drug cases reportedly filed, only 35 resulted in convictions, Reps. Co, Batocabe and Garbin lamented. Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors suggest that stringent requirements peculiar in drug cases such as physical inventory and photography, and failure of law enforcers to observe proper procedures in the conduct of buy-bust operations are the most common causes of the acquittals and dismissals of drug cases, they said. Furthermore, Rep. Lapus noted that in eight years until June 2011 more or less 900 minors were reprimanded either for drug use, possession, proliferation and other drug offenses under the Dangerous Drugs Law. The situation is very alarming as adult offenders are using children, who are exempt from criminal liability, to proliferate dangerous drugs and exposing them to the dangers of drugs on their physical and mental health. (30) dpt