Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III is seeking to overhaul the country’s anti-illegal drugs framework by creating a new agency directly under the Office of the President — the Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) — to lead the fight against narcotics and drug abuse.
Under his proposed Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority Act, Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 would be amended to consolidate and strengthen enforcement, policy-making, and rehabilitation functions.
“The law, as presently formulated, needs retrofitting, so to speak, like any structure or machine in constant use for 23 years now,” Sotto said. “Supervision of enforcement activities is desirable to map out policies for more effective anti-illegal drugs campaigns.”
If passed, the measure will dissolve the current Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), transferring their functions into five bureaus under the new agency:
- Anti-Drug Enforcement
- Anti-Drug Prosecution
- Anti-Drug Prevention
- Anti-Drug Rehabilitation
- Anti-Drug Policy Formulation, Guidelines and Procedure
Enforcement powers would be carried out by specialized units of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Customs, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, along with similar task forces.
The Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority will be headed by a secretary appointed by the President, with funding sourced from the current budgets of PDEA and DDB, and subsequently from the General Appropriations Act.
Sotto stressed that the new structure aims to streamline coordination and craft a more effective and unified anti-drug strategy nationwide.