The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was determined to push through with its controversial proposal to subject students as young as those in the fourth grade to mandatory drug tests.

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said the antinarcotics agency had caught hundreds of minors who were drug users or pushers since President Duterte assumed office.

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Aquino earlier admitted he had made the recommendation following a series of arrests by the PDEA of students and school officials involved in drugs.

The proposal would require amending the law which allows random drug tests only in secondary and tertiary schools.

Serious problem

Aquino said in a press conference on Tuesday that since 2016 to June 15 this year, the PDEA had caught or “rescued” 182 users and 588 pushers aged 10 to 17.

“Don’t you think this is serious?” Aquino said, citing a 6-year-old drug runner caught by the PDEA in Cotabato in 2014.

Addressing criticisms that the minors caught may not necessarily be in school, Aquino said “it has no bearing whether they were students or not. What if next year they enroll?”

“There’s a problem in schools. They are being infiltrated. There are illegal drugs mimicking candies,” Aquino said.

“We have made an arrest in which the person enrolled in just any course for the purpose of selling illegal drugs,” he added.

Other side

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Reacting to negative comments that the PDEA should instead focus on operations against drug lords rather than on drug tests in schools, Aquino said: “Maybe they don’t know we have already conducted more than 4,200 high-value-target operations since the Duterte administration began.”

Aquino said his recommendation was part of a “holistic” approach against drugs.

“We’re targeting supply reduction, and demand reduction. It’s not all law enforcement. We also need to look at the other side of the drug problem,” he said.

Aquino also countered criticism that his proposal would require too much funds, pointing out that PDEA drug kits cost only P80 per test, as opposed to the P200 to P300 estimated by the Department of Education.

“The PDEA wants to save the children. The cost is immaterial,” Aquino said.

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