MEXICAN-STYLE WAR ON DRUGS SOUGHT

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is digging in for a Mexican-style
war on drug syndicates.

PDEA director Dionisio Santiago declared war on drug lords after learning
that a teenage daughter of a government agent was abducted and raped by
members of a certain drug syndicate.

But lawmakers warned against making such sound bites without taking
action, with some pushing for the restoration of the death penalty for
drug trafficking among other heinous crimes. "Why declare a war on drugs
only now when any administration is supposed to be doing so from Day One?"
asked Senator Francis Escudero.

Escudero added the fact that the President herself continues to act as the
anti-drug czar may indicate her lack of confidence in the military and
police to resolve the drug problem.

Rep. Rufino Biazon, for his part, backed Santiago's war, but asked what
the government was prepared to do to fight this battle.

With this attack on the family of a narcotics agent, it would appear the
local syndicates were brazen enough to imitate their counterparts in
Colombia, Biazon warned.

"This group drew first blood and we will not take this lightly. They will
pay for what they did to the victim and her family," Santiago said.
"Parang Mexico na ito. Bakbakan. Ubusan. [It's going to be like in Mexico.
It's a war of attrition]," Dionisio said.

Mexico's war on drug cartels claimed 10,000 lives since 2007.

A report indicated that the victim was abducted Saturday night and
abandoned by the suspects near a military camp around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Dionisio declined to give more details of the incident but said that the
case is drug-related and blamed a drug syndicate behind this, although he
also declined to identify the group pending follow-up operations.

Malacanang, likewise, condemned the incident and ordered law enforcement
authorities to hunt down the suspects.

Dionisio said a special tracker team was already deployed to go after the
culprits.

The anti-narcotics chief said the drug problem in the country could not
flourish without connivance of some unscrupulous politicians who rake in
money from the P150-billion to P300-billion drug industry. "Obviously,
what we are dealing with now is plain and simple narco-politics. Drug
cartels could not operate with impunity without backings from influential
people especially some law enforcement people," Santiago said.

The drug agency said around 3.4 million Filipinos were drug users, and of
that number, 1.6 million were regular users.