MANILA, July 31 (Kyodo) The drug problem in the Philippines has become a
''nationwide plague'' and government would like to see new laws enacted to
support its war against the menace, Justice Secretary Teofisto Guingona said
Thursday.

Guingona, who also heads the Presidential AntiCrime Commission (PACC), said
there are now an estimated 1.7 million drug users and pushers all over the
country and about 15 drug lords rake in billions of pesos in the illegal
trade.

''This has become a nationwide plague'' that now affects not only Metro
Manila and surrounding provinces but also farflung areas in the southern
Philippines, Guingona told a foreign correspondents forum.

He said, however, while the Philippines is a good transshipment point for
drugs from China, Hong Kong and other areas, international drug syndicates
still do not consider the local drug market as a major market.

But the anticrime chief said operations against the drug lords are hampered
by lack of laws, including the laws which will allow law enforcers to seize
assets being used as fronts by drug distributors.

The current rule which allows people found in possession of less than 200
grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride to post bail should also be corrected
because ''we want to change the concept that what is punishable is the
possession and not the amount of drugs found,'' Guingona added.

The drug problem has taken on a higher profile in the Philippines recently
after armed forces, including presidential guards, raided suspected lairs of
alleged drug lord Alfredo Tiongco, who fled to Hong Kong before the raid.