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Manila, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday expressed support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to destroy confiscated illegal drugs in one week.
PNP Police Chief General Camilo Cascolan said that they have already coordinated with the Philippine Drug Control Agency (PDEA) for the procedure in the immediate destruction of illegal drugs in compliance with the president’s directive.
“In fact, we have discussed that before with PDEA. Well, actually in three days it should be the talk, in three days it should disappear, it will burn, ”said Cascolan.
In a public address late Monday night, Duterte said that all illegal drugs seized from anti-drug operations, regardless of their volume, should be eradicated within a week.
The general director of the PDEA, Wilkins Villanueva, for his part, said that they have been carrying out the destruction of seized dangerous drugs.
“We are already moving to beat him one week. But actually, we did it the last time when we destroyed it in August, ”Villanueva said, referring to the destruction of illegal drugs worth P13.36 billion destroyed at a facility in the city of Trece Mártires in Cavite.
The PDEA chief also revealed that they were supposed to destroy 800 kilograms of dangerous drugs in October, but a local court decided to move it to November due to a scheduling conflict.
Some 700 more kilograms of dangerous drugs from archived cases are also ready for destruction, he added.
Villanueva also emphasized that there is a procedure that must be followed in the destruction of illicit drugs and the process cannot continue if representatives of the court, the media and officials of the affected barangays are not present.
“We cannot destroy because there is no accused, representative of the accused, so it cannot be destroyed. We have a lot to resolve now. We will insist on that one week after the president’s, ”he said. – RRD (with details from correspondent Lea Ylagan)
