MANILA - With less than two months before the May 9 polls, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Friday expressed hope that the next administration will continue the relentless campaign against illegal drugs.

"I have been here since 2001, dumaan ako sa apat na presidente. Dapat ang kampanya natin kontra droga walang kulay, walang pulitika kasi isa lang naman ang kalaban natin, droga at ang apektado natin mga pamilya. Dapat kahit sinong pumasok, kahit sinong manalo diyan, ang kampanya kontra droga dapat pantay pantay, dapat patuloy. Yun ang sa akin kaya nga ang ginagawa natin saPDEA, ginagawa natin professional dahil kahit sinong mamuno dapat we are in the forefront of the war on drugs (I have been here since 2001, I have served under four presidents. There should be no politics involved in our drug campaign. There is only one enemy, drugs and the families have affected. Whoever enters, whoever wins there, the anti-drug campaign must be equal, must continue. That's what I do, that's why we do in PDEA, we do it professionally because whoever leads, we must be at the forefront of the war on drugs)," said PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva in a radio interview on Friday.

Villanueva also called on the next president to continue the drug rehabilitation and reformation program spearheaded by the Duterte administration for the benefit of the future generation.

He added PDEA had recent successful operations resulting in billions of seized illegal drugs.

The PDEA chief said the operations stemmed from the joint cooperation of law enforcement agencies under the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) established in 2019.

"The main difference between our operations now and before is we share intelligence at pinagtutulungan namin na trabahuhin ang isang main operation. Ito yung nangyari (we work together to ensure the success of a main operation. This is what happened) for the past months since last year," he said.

On March 15, operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Task Force on Illegal Drugs and Quezon Police Provincial Office intercepted three vans containing 1.5 metric tons of shabu worth PHP10 billion at a checkpoint in Infanta town, Quezon province.

A total of 10 suspects were also arrested during the operations.

Villanueva said drug syndicates have reverted to their old ways and opted to transport drugs through unprotected coastal waters, adding that a number of the shipments came from Mexico, Africa, and China.

"Before, the syndicates coursed the illegal drugs in containers and through customs. But now they do not pass the terminals. They are directly being shipped. From international waters, a small boat will fetch it from our coast. They are brought in the unprotected coastal areas,'' he said.

The PDEA chief admitted that solving the drug problem is difficult to do, but the current campaign brought great improvement to the country's drug situation.

"Ang kailangan lang natin dito is rehabilitation and reformation. The problem is yung mga LGUs natin ang talagang main player dito. Dapat ayos na ito for the past two-three years pinasok tayo ng Covid-19 so hindi puwede tayo mag-conduct ng rehabilitation dahil meron social distancing. Rehabilitation and reformation program natin particularly sa community level kaya hindi tayo makapag conduct ng community-based drug rehabilitation program because of the Covid-19 (All we need here is rehabilitation and reformation. The problem is that our LGUs are really the main players here. It should be already implemented in the past two or three years but came Covid-19. So we cannot conduct rehabilitation because there is social distancing. Our rehabilitation and reformation program is particularly at the community level so we cannot conduct a community-based drug rehabilitation program because of the Covid-19 )," he said. (PNA)