Prosecutors in drug probe should stay put - Pimentel

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged prosecutors not to push through with their resignation from the anti-narcotics task force if they have not done anything that would compromise their duties in the investigation of the drug trafficking charges against the so-called Alabang Boys.

Pimentel, however, said that for those who have become liabilities to the task force by fixing cases, their resignation is the most decent thing to do and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales should let go of them.

"Prosecutors who feel alluded to by charges of wrongdoing should resign. Those who have nothing to hide should stick out and fight those who are trying to destroy them," he said.

The minority leader called on the top officials in the drug enforcement machinery, led by Secretary Gonzales, PDEA director general Dionisio Santiago and Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Vicente Sotto III to take steps to resolve the conflicts and misunderstanding between the prosecutors and the PDEA without giving up the efforts to ferret out and impose sanctions on law enforcers and prosecutors who are jeopardizing or sabotaging the campaign against illegal drugs.

Pimentel warned that the anti-drug campaign is being weakened while drug syndicates are getting the upperhand while the PDEA people and the prosecutors continue to swap accusations and recriminations in public, instead of attending to their duties.