Privilege Speech
September 18, 2012

Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III
Majority Leader

Privilege Speech
(As delivered during the Senate session)

Mr. President.

I distinctly recall that in the 11th Congress the presiding officer, Senate President of the Republic Senator Juan Ponce Enrile sponsored the Dangerous Drugs Act that was amending the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, after that, it evolved in another form on the 12th Congress, this time it was called the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and this time I, the majority leader, co-sponsored the measure. The reason that I co-sponsored the measure and the reason that I became the principal author of that measure was because we created the PDEA.

It was created to address the huge and complex problems of dangerous drugs and our hope from that time up to the present, we will be able to diminish if not totally eradicated the problem and pernicious menace, the problem of illegal drugs and drug abuse are so well until yesterday.

Mr. President, I was informed yesterday that the president fired a leading member of drug enforcement agency, a leading officer, as a matter of fact the deputy director general. I have worked with that deputy director general for a time when I was chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and I can't help but wonder what happen to the PDEA.

Lumalabas Mr. President na may mga tagapamuno ang PDEA na nagkakaroon ng problem hindi lamang sa PDEA mismo kundi pati sa kanilang pamilya, hindi ko naman masabi kung sino sila dahil ito ay lumalabas lamang nung una as blind items sa mga newspapers. Well apparently the information reached the Palace and if I'm not mistaken napagbintangan ay itong deputy director general kaya ganun ang nangyari. So far okay na rin po sana 'yon sapagkat that is the prerogative of the Palace, ang problema Mr. President may nakarating po sakin ngayon at narinig ko over the radio na ang kanilang tinanggal ay may mga sinasabi ngayon kabaligtarang alegasyon doon sa mga naka-upo ngayon sa PDEA, so Mr. President kung gusto po natin talagang talunin itong problema ng dangerous drugs, aba, kailangan malinis ang bakuran natin, kailangan matibay ang ating agency na lumalaban dito, pero kung meron mga alegasyon ng 8 milyon tumatanggap na ganyan, 50 milyon tinanggap ni ganito raw, nuong araw meron nang alegasyon sa Department of Justice ngayon naman meron binabanggit na 8 milyon sa liderato ng PDEA at may sinasabi na ang isa sa asawa ng opisyal ay naloloko sa casino, ganun po ang mga reports. Paano po natin rerespituhin o paano rerespituhin ng tao ang ating ahensya pagka-ganito ang nangyayari?

Kaya Mr. President, I rise to call the attention of the Senate and the proper committee to handle this and conduct an inquiry if possible to be able to get the bottom of this and if possible strengthen the PDEA.

Mr. President originally ang gusto sana natin sa PDEA is some kind of authority over all anti-narcotics units of the country, one time or another medyo mabago ng konti ang implementasyon. So probably this is the best time as any to look into the creation of PDEA, strengthen it out and weed out the undesirables, and makes it strong as we wanted to be to fight these problems of illegal and dangerous drugs in the country.

Thank you Mr. President.

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