By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

In an interview yesterday morning, Bacolod City Councilor Caesar Distrito said the decision by President Rodrigo Duterte to transfer all anti-drug operations from the Philippine National Police (PNP) to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is bound to fail.
“In order to allay the fears of the public, he centralized all anti-drug operations,” he claimed.
Distrito explained, in terms of manpower, the PDEA is “very limited” and they do not have the budgetary capacity of the PNP.
He added, police will end up doing the work in the end since they are still responsible for arresting criminals, as they have been granted, under the law, the sole responsibility of maintaining the peace and order.
Yesterday morning, Duterte issued a memorandum ordering the PDEA to be the sole agency to conduct anti-drug operations.
The president said law enforcement agencies, including the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), as well as all ad-hoc task forces, are required to allow the PDEA to conduct anti-illegal drug operations./WDJ