Task force created vs recruitment of Filipino drug couriers

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has created a task force that seeks to stop to the rampant recruitment of overseas Filipinos as drug couriers by international drug syndicates.

"There is a need to conduct an intensive and unrelenting campaign against drug syndicates responsible for victimizing the Filipino as drug courier," President Arroyo said in issuing Administrative Order 279 mandating the creation of Drug Couriers Task Force.

The task force’s main function is to develop and implement strategies to counter the recruitment of Filipinos as drug mules by international drug trafficking syndicates. It is also tasked to conduct a sustained media campaign to deter the recruitment, and to aggressively prosecute the drug syndicate members operating in the Philippines.

The task group will also coordinate with counterpart agencies in other countries to undertake bilateral or regional actions against the use of Filipinos as drug mules.

President Arroyo created the task force as she admitted that there is an "alarming increase" in the number of Filipinos who have been "enticed, duped and subsequently recruited to act as drug couriers by international drug trafficking syndicates."

In China alone, 66 Filipinos – 53 of whom are women – have been sentenced to death for possession of illegal drugs. Many others have been languishing in jail while awaiting their final conviction.

The task force will be headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Immigration and Customs bureaus, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Information Agency, Manila International Airport Authority, and the Philippine Tourism Authority as members.

The members of the task force are the labor department, Bureaus of Immigration and Customs, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Information Agency, Manila International Airport Authority, and the Philippine Tourism Authority.

President Arroyo ordered all government agencies to fully support the task force.

The task force’s initial operating budget will come from President Arroyo’s contingent fund. Afterward, its operating expenses will be included in the budget of the Office of the President. - KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more