GMA forms task force vs drug mules

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo has created a high-level inter-agency task force that would prevent Filipinos from being used as couriers of international drug trafficking syndicates.

Mrs. Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 279 on Feb. 8, creating the task force that would be chaired by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and co-chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“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,” the President said in her order.

“Many of the Filipinos recruited as drug couriers have been apprehended by police authorities and are now facing stiff penalties, with some of them meted death sentences by foreign courts,” she said.

At least 66 overseas Filipino workers have been sentenced to death for acting as drug mules, 55 of whom are women, in China alone.

Under AO 279, the task force was tasked to develop and execute strategies against the recruitment of Filipinos as international drug couriers by international drug trafficking syndicates that victimize overseas Filipinos.

The task force was also directed to undertake programs for a sustained media campaign to prevent recruitment of Fillipinos as couriers; and to orchestrate efforts toward more aggressive apprehension and prosecution of syndicate members operating in the country. – Paolo Romero