San Jose, Antique (18 February) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left no stone unturned in her campaign for a drug-free Philippines.

PGMA gathered on Monday all government drug enforcement agencies to review and institutionalize the components and details that form the enforcement pillar in the campaign against drug abuse.

Events in the past months saw the need for offices in the law enforcement pillar against illegal drugs to share vision and harmonize their operations so that the syndicates and peddlers of illegal drugs are brought to justice and penalize in accordance with law, said Dangerous Drug Board (DDB) Chairman Vicente Sotto III.

Sotto further said that it is important for law enforcement agencies to “hear what it is that judges look for when they hear and decide cases” to achieve a higher percentage of conviction on drug cases filed in court.

DDB data showed that of the 99,754 illegal drug cases filed from 2003 to 2008, only 22% was resolved. Of the total resolved cases, only 32% resulted in conviction, 31% in acquittal, 27% in dismissal and 11% provisionally dismissed.

Sotto has noted that there has been low resolution rate of cases thus, a need to review “buy-bust operation,” a specific area of concern where lapses and technicalities are prone to be pointed out by defense lawyers.

Justice Lucas Bersamin gave a special lecture on “RA 9165: Enforcement of the law through successful Prosecution of the Offender” to ensure that law enforcers build-up and document their cases in accordance with law and proper procedure to assure prosecutors that the accused brought before the courts are probably guilty of the crime charged.