By Liezelle Soriano
HOUSE Committee on Dangerous Drugs chairperson Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said on Monday that the amount of illegal drugs seized under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already reached P30 billion.
During the resumption of the investigation into the P6.7 billion drug seizure in Manila in October 2022, Barbers said that the P30 billion in illegal substances consisted of 4.4 tons of shabu and nearly three tons of dried marijuana leaves.
“Within the last five weeks, authorities were able to nab 1.3 tons of illegal drugs. And for the last one and a half years of the (Marcos) administration, the street value of these nabbed illegal drugs are already worth at least P30 billion,” Barbers said.
“This amount can most definitely finance the elections and victory of drug lords in our political arena. Such war chest is even enough to fund a presidential campaign,” he added.
The lawmaker added that the country has law enforcement personnel who do their jobs with integrity, “even if there are bad apples within their ranks,” adding these bad apples should not win.
Barbers added: “We will thresh out the whys and hows our country continues to be the favorite destination of illegal drugs and who are the big personalities or even bigger entities behind these shipments to flood us with these contrabands with fictitious and non-existent consignees.”
(ai/mnm)
