Palace dares PDEA agent: Show proof

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agent claiming that PDEA chief Arturo Cacdac Jr. is afraid of going after big-time drug syndicates in the country should show proof of his allegation, a Palace official said yesterday.

“Perhaps if there is any truth on his allegations, then as Secretary Sonny Coloma said, evidence should be produced, names should be given so that these allegations will not be mere rumors or innuendos,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

The statement came after PDEA agent Jonathan Morales accused Cacdac of being reluctant in going after Chinese drug syndicates operating in the country.

“At this point, it is the PDEA that should deal with the particular allegations that are being raised,” she said. “We’ll allow the leadership of the PDEA to deal with this particular matter.”

Valte, at the same time, lauded PDEA and other law enforcement agencies after their “international partners” noticed a significant reduction in drugs sold on the streets.

Cacdac has refuted Morales’ allegations, saying that out of the 53 foreigners arrested on drug charges in the first half of 2013, 26 of them are Chinese.

In a speech he made during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony at PDEA, he said he has been facing danger since he graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1978 and served in the police force.

“I do not understand what gives a person who has never experienced being in a war the right to judge the bravery of others,” Cacdac said, in an apparent dig at Morales.

Cacdac said the agency has shifted its efforts to neutralizing high-value targets and conducting high-impact operations to comply with President Aquino’s marching orders to suppress the supply of illegal drugs in the country.

He said the PDEA seized P1.2 billion in illegal drugs and their precursors and arrested 4,476 drug suspects, 333 of them high-value targets, during the first half of the year.          – With Reinir Padua