MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The government will try a 鈥渘ew strategy鈥� in combating illegal drugs, which will involve focusing on the supply chain where they are coming from, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Tuesday.
He and other law enforcement agency officials discussed this with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a meeting on Monday.
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鈥淲e discussed a new strategy towards fighting the war on drugs. For the longest time we have been concentrating on the consumption side: arresting them on street levels, arresting them on crimes they committed on the buy-bust,鈥� he said in a Palace briefing.
鈥淭his time we are going heavy on the supply side, chasing after the big guns, the big suppliers, the main men involved in the importation of drugs. The personalities have been identified; I am not at liberty to discuss it. Hindi ko pwede sabihin (I can鈥檛 reveal it). But the meeting was about going after the supply side of the drug war,鈥� Remulla added.
Furthermore, Remulla noted that the 鈥渘umber one source of drug trade鈥� remains inside the Muntinlupa City Jail.
The government is proactively taking steps to transfer 鈥渉igh-value detainees鈥� to a maximum-security facility in the Philippines, he said.
Remulla refused to provide details about the facility and the identities of the detainees.
鈥楽ystemic problem鈥�
In the briefing, Remulla also acknowledged that many have already tried to solve the problem of illegal drugs inside the facility but failed to do so.
鈥淎ng dami nang sumubok ayusin iyan. Lahat na ginawa nila鈥攈inigpitan, lahat na, but it seems that mayroon pa ring鈥攕ystemic na iyong problema sa loob ng Muntinlupa, eh, so they鈥檙e trying a new approach,鈥� he said.
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(Many have already tried to fix that. They did everything鈥攖hey tightened controls, everything鈥攂ut it seems that there is still a systemic problem within Muntinlupa, so they鈥檙e trying a new approach.)
鈥淜ahit anong gawin nila, after isi-sweep nila, after two weeks lahat may telepono na naman (No matter what they do, after they sweep the place, within two weeks everyone has a phone again), so evidently there鈥檚 something wrong within the system, and changing personnel is not the answer.
鈥淵ou have to change the location, change their ability, change their accessibility para iyong (so that) communication with the outside world is curtailed. So, iyon ang ginagawa (That鈥檚 what they鈥檙e doing),鈥� he continued.