LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The newly installed regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency vowed to sustain the 87.63 percent conviction rate of drug cases in the region.
“We will continue to provide training and add more to further strengthen the capability of drug law enforcers,” said Regional Director Julius Paderes, who took over the command of the PDEA-CAR last Jan. 20 at the PDEA headquarters in La Trinidad, Benguet.
“Nasasayang ang effort ng mga enforcer na nagtrabaho nang maayos pero dahil sa technicality nadi-dismiss ang kaso at puwede naman itong maisa-ayos through capacity building,” he added.
Capacity-building of agents will be among his priorities to assure airtight cases against violators of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Paredes added.
Paredes said procedures on handling anti-drug cases will also be updated and reviewed.
“Lahat naman ng mga bagay na alam natin, nag-a-update tayo at nagre-review. Mga abugado nga at doktor may continuing education kaya gusto ko na maging part ito ng programa para sa mga enforcer,” Paderes said.
He said enforcement goes hand-in-hand with prosecution and that errors in enforcement affect the prosecution, thus the need to have continuing education and training for the personnel.
Data from the Legal and Prosecution Unit of the PDEA-CAR shows out of the 423 decided cases in 2022, there were 371 convictions based on trial on the merits of the case and from plea bargaining administered by the courts.
The rest of the cases are pending in the different courts. – PNA
