The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) destroyed 1,394 kilograms or P6.25 billion worth of seized illegal drugs in Cavite province on Thursday in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to destroy confiscated narcotics.
PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva said there are still over 1,500 kilograms of narcotics that would be destroyed on November 26.
“Mayroon na lang po tayong natitirang 1,529 kilograms [na illegal na droga]. Ito ay susunugin natin by November 26, next month, at kapag natapos po ito, zero zero ang inventory ng PDEA,” Villaneuva said in a speech during the destruction the Integrated Waste Management, Inc. in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City.
(We have the remaining 1,529 kilograms of illegal drugs. We will burn these by November 26, next month, and once this finishes, PDEA’s inventory is now at zero.)
PDEA records showed the agency destroyed the following illegal drugs with their estimated street value:
- methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu (crystal meth) – P5,981,656,176
- liquid meth – P60,200,400
- hydrochloric acid – P34,720
- safrole – P129,670
- methylamine – P3,686,400
- P2P – P78,000
- potassium iodate – P3,039,960
- potassium permanganate – P6,000
- marijuana – P30,148,470
- cocaine – P154,642,976
- MDMA – P10,590,725
- norephedrine – P1,547,950
- ephedrine – P100
Also read: PDEA: 1,121 high-value targets caught from January-July 2020
PDEA destroys P6.25B worth of illegal drugs in Cavite
Wilkins added that the illegal drugs were seized in various anti-drug operations in the country and issued court orders for destruction.
President Duterte in a public address last week that he wants all seized shabu to be destroyed in a week to prevent the recycling of the illegal drug.
“I want all the shabu, residual or otherwise, however minimal, destroyed, all of it, by next week. One week. Do it one week. Destroy and get specimen. Tutal, pag mag-ocular inspection, may prosecutor ‘yan,” Duterte had said.
The PDEA also worked with the Department of Justice “to issue guidance relative to the propriety of the refusal of some prosecutors to move for or at least conform to the motion of PDEA for the conduct of ocular inspection, taking of representative samples, and subsequent issuance of court order for destruction on archived cases or cases under automatic review, involving more or less 540.6 kilograms of shabu.”