PDEA supports bill amending anti-wire tapping law

QUEZON CITY,August 02 (PIA) - The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) supports a proposed bill amending Republic Act No. 4200, otherwise known as the “Act to Prohibit and Penalize Wire Tapping and Other Related Violations of the Privacy of Communication, and for Other Purposes.”   

PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lapeña said the new measure is a welcome development and demonstrates the support of the Senate in the national campaign against illegal drugs.   “The proposed bill, if approved, would allow wiretapping on suspected big-time drug lords to intercept and record their criminal communications that can be used as evidence against them,” Lapeña said.   

Senate Bill 48 which is authored by Senator Panfilo Lacson, is an act authorizing wire tapping in cases involving violations of Republic Act 9165 or “The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”   

“Though there is a conflict in the invasion of citizen’s privacy of communication and abuse of authority-issues that stall the eventual passage of the bill into law, it will give PDEA and other drug law enforcement agencies additional investigative and judicial tools to reach the structure and hierarchy of drug-trafficking organizations and finally bring them to justice,” Lapeña explained.   

Meanwhile, the PDEA chief expressed his gratitude to Senator Lacson for sponsoring the bill. Likewise, Lapeña thanked Senator Grace Poe, Senator Gregorio Honasan and Congressman Vicente Belmonte Jr., for their similar efforts of amending the anti-wiretapping law. (PDEA/RJB/JEG/PIA-NCR)