Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Director General Wilkins Villanueva on Monday said the agency would target “puppet master” or those responsible for illegal drug entry in the country.
“We still have to find ‘yung talagang puppet master, ‘yung nagpapagalaw sa kanila. Ang problema dito sa nagpapagalaw sa kanila hindi ito nagbebenta ng droga, hindi ito naglalagalag. It’s only calls at utos,” Villanueva said at a press briefing.
(We still have to find the puppet, those who are making them move. The problem with these puppet masters is they don’t sell the drug. They don’t wander around. They just only call and command.)
“So itong puppet master na ito talagang hindi natin makukuha ito unless na ‘yun talagang amendment ng anti-wiretapping bill dahil dito natin sila makukuha,” he added.
(So this puppet master, we really can’t get them unless there would be an amendment to the anti-wiretapping bill.)
The PDEA chief said some of these puppet masters are in the Philippines while others are abroad.
“Sila ang nagpapagalaw eh but expect in the near future na talagang ito ang mga titirahin natin, not only mga bodegero natin but itong mga puppet masters at ito, some of them are here in the Philippines while others are sa labas,” Villanueva said.
(Expect soon that we would get them, not only the warehouse staff but also these puppet masters.)
Villanueva said as long as puppet masters are free, the illegal drugs would continue to enter the country.
The PDEA chief’s remark came after law enforcers seized over P5 billion worth of shabu taken in Marilao, Bulacan last Friday, and P244.8 million of shabu in Parañaque City on Saturday.
“As far as the source of drugs, we still have to conduct the profiling and we’ll coordinate with the foreign counterpart… So it’s really important makakuha kami talaga ng profile noong dangerous drugs para makapag-order ang court for us to conduct profiling,” Villanueva said, adding they are still determining the source of the illegal drugs.
PNP Chief Archie Gamboa meanwhile commended the law enforcement agencies for the success of their anti-illegal drug operations.
“I am proud to note that the police regional offices and national operational support units managed to sustain anti-illegal drugs and anti-criminality operations without let-up during the entire ECQ period and vigorously pushed onwards thru the opening days of the MGCQ/GCQ even as these units continue to follow strict public safety standards as per IATF rules and regulations,” Gamboa said.