MANILA, Philippines - The Task Force on Drug Couriers (TFDC) co-chaired by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday met with their foreign counterparts in other parts of the world primarily to discuss ways to strengthen international cooperation in the common fight against illegal drug trafficking.
PDEA chief Dionisio Santiago and DFA intel chief Admiral Amable Tolentino led the locals while the other participants in the TFDC’s first meeting with their counterparts included Ambassadors Alcides Prates of Brazil; Nawalage Bennet Cooray of Sri Lanka; and Hatice Pinar Isik of Turkey as well as staff officer Veegee Sison for Peru, police attache Senior superintendent Muhammad Nur Usmad of Indonesia; second secretary and Consul Chandaravuth Tan of Cambodia and staff officer Dennard Dacumos for Thailand.
Santiago said the only effective solution to the fight against illegal drug trafficking worldwide is international cooperation.
“We will expand participation of other countries in this conference. We expect memorandum of agreements (MOAs) forged with other countries with similar concerns like Iran,” Santiago said.
The PDEA chief said the country will soon be seeing representatives from the Middle East.
Prates, for his part, said Brazil takes interest and concern in this endeavor as the problem is not new to them.
“We have faced this problem for a long time. It is vital and crucial that state and local governments are involved in intensified cooperation (against a common enemy). It is also clear that in Brazil we have socio-economic problems. We can’t deal effectively with the drug menace without solving these local (Brazil) problems,” said Prates in apparent reference to similar prevailing conditions in the country.
Prates also pointed out the crucial role media plays in the fight against the drug menace.
“Media has an important role in this fight. There is in fact a great expectation from the people. Remember that the people victimized as drug couriers by the syndicates are otherwise law-abiding and not dangerous people. But when they are caught, they are meted out very heavy penalties. So, you have to tell them not to get involved in the illegal trade,” said Prates.