Sotto hits PDEA on anti-drugs ops: ‘Successful ba kayo? Hindi’

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February 25, 2026 | 4:50pm

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Tito Sotto on Wednesday, February 25, criticized the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for having yet to succeed in eliminating illegal drugs in the country. 

The statement stemmed from the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs hearing wherein Sotto’s Senate Bill 190 was being tackled. In the said bill, Sotto proposed to effectively abolish the PDEA and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DBB) and consolidate their functions into the Presidential Drug Enforcement Authority. 

In the bill’s explanatory note, Sotto said that the war against illegal drugs in the country failed to have a holistic approach, which led to significant casualties and a large number of cases being dismissed. 

To Sotto’s surprise, the PDEA disagreed with the bill. 

PDEA Deputy Director General for operations Renato Gumban said that while they recognized Sotto’s efforts to strengthen the agency, the agency did not support the abolition of the two government bodies. 

Gumban reasoned that the original law establishing the PDEA had already abolished the anti-illegal drugs unit of the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Customs, designating the PDEA as the lead agency to consolidate efforts against illicit narcotics. 

But Sotto, who was one of the key figures in passing the law that created the PDEA in 2002, said that the agency misunderstood the purpose of his new bill. 

His new bill would elevate the status of the PDEA once it is under the Office of the President, giving it supervisory powers. 

Sotto said the PDEA focused too much on the enforcement aspect of the illegal drugs problem, turning the agency into a private army. Aspects such as prevention and rehabilitation have been neglected. 

“Successful ba kayo? Hindi. Nadali pa kayo ng tokhang, 'di ba? Ano nangyari ngayon? Ayun, may ICC (International Criminal Court), 'di ba? So we want this upgraded. We want better for the country. We want a better way to address the problem of illegal drugs and drug abuse,” Sotto said. 

(Were you successful? No. Now you are involved in tokhang. What happened with that? There, the ICC, right?  So we want this upgraded. We want better for the country. We want a better way to address the problem of illegal drugs and drug abuse.) 

Former president Rodrigo Duterte is currently facing charges of crimes against humanity for murder at the ICC in relation to the bloody drug war, which saw the deaths of 6,000 to 30,000 people. 

Drug abuse and illegal drugs were two different animals, Sotto said. Even if you burn all the illegal drugs in the country, people who are addicted will merely find other ways to consume. The PDEA cannot just focus on enforcement, Sotto said.