House starts probe on smuggling of illegal drugs off coastal waters of Isabela

February 28, 2018

The House committee on dangerous drugs Wednesday began investigating reported smuggling of illegal drugs off the coastal waters of Isabela and in some parts of the country.

At the onset of the hearing, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Acting Deputy Director of Intelligence and Investigation Service Agent Martin Francia requested the committee chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers for an executive session.

Barbers granted Francia’s request since the issues being discussed focus on national security and that discussing these in public, according to him, might preempt on-going police operations against the  illegal drug trade.

The inquiry is being done on the basis of House Resolution 1674 filed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas which cites drug smuggling happening off the coastal waters of Isabela as well as other parts of the country.

Fariñas expressed alarm over the recoveries of high-grade drug cache in Philippine waters because fishermen who have found the drugs might be driven to keep it for themselves and later on end up in the hands of drug pushers and addicts.

Fariñas said the country is vulnerable to become a transshipment point of illegal drug trade due to its vast coastlines which are undetected by the police and the PDEA.

Filing of the resolution stemmed from police reports a drug cache of cocaine weighing 18.842 kilograms with an estimated street value of P79.136 million was found by two fishermen on February 6, 2018 off the coast of Barangay Dipudo, Divilacan, Isabela.

The cache, stacked in a blue plastic container, contained in  eight packs of sealed crystalline, was turned over by the fishermen to the local police who then turned it over to the PDEA. Upon tests, the drugs were found out to be high-grade cocaine.

According to the PDEA, there are similarities in the packaging of the recovered drugs and another 25 kilograms of cocaine worth P125 million found off the shore of Barangay  Calintaan, Matnog in Sorsogon on January 3, 2018.

Sometime in December 2016, fishermen also recovered P100 million worth of high-grade cocaine found floating 100 meters off the shores of Lagunoy Gulf, Tiwi, Albay.

The resolution said there were similar incidents in other parts of the country where smugglers were forced to dump their contraband overboard to avoid apprehension by authorities, which contraband were later found by fishermen on the shorelines. DMS