President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched last night another bold phase in the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs as she ordered the Philippine National Police to rid the University Belt of all dealers and pushers of all forms of mind-bending substances.

During the launching of Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) at the Quirino Grandstand, the President directed Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, deputy PNP chief for administration who also heads the police campaign against drugs, to deploy more uniformed and plainclothes policemen near schools and other areas where drug dealers and pushers pursue their illicit and deadly trade.

The President told the gathering at the Luneta that she and Sen. Robert Barbers, whom she is tapping to provide direction to the administration’s drug war, agreed that more aggressive actions should be taken to make the University Belt in Manila drug-free.

She said Barbers proposed the deployment not only of plainclothes policemen in the University Belt, that area in Manila where most of the major colleges and university are located, but also uniformed lawmen to discourage drug pushers from pursuing their trade.

The President recalled that during her visit to the Batasan Hills National High School in Quezon City the other day, the president and other officials of the student council also asked for the deployment of more uniformed policemen near their campus.

In launching BIDA, the President took her stepped-up war on drugs directly to the youth, considered the main target of drug dealers and the most vulnerable sector of society, and mobilized them in the campaign to expose no only pushers but also drug lords and their patrons or protectors in government, specially those in uniform.

No matter how small their voices may be, said the President, this will be big and loud enough to wipe away the drug menace that has been sending more people to their graves than terrorism and the dreaded SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

The entire youth should unite and act in concert against illegal drugs, the President said, as she urged them to speak with one voice in a clamor for drug-free communities, unmask the drug syndicates and pushers, and push for the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

"Let us use people power, the power of the youth," in the war against drugs, the President exhorted the thousands of young boys and girls gathered at the Luneta for BIDA.

On the same occasion, the President defined the priority of actions the government would pursue in putting down drug lords and dealers and their protectors in government.

The first objective is to make drugs inaccessible and more expensive to users.

The second is to identify areas where traffic trafficking is most intense and put pressure on these areas to eventually make them drug free.

The third is unmask the drug lords and their cohorts in the police force and in government.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night mobilized the youth, the main target of drug pushers and dealers, in the war against illegal drugs.

Taking the administration’s war against illegal drugs directly to what is considered the most vulnerable sector of society, the President launched Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA) and urged the youth of the land to speak and act as one united force against the drug menace which, she said, has claimed more lives than terrorism and the dreaded SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

BIDA is an animated program aimed at encouraging the youth to stay away from drugs.

The President deputized some 15,000 children between 6 and 12 years old as members of the BIDA Club and to serve as spokespersons of the government’s war against illegal drugs.

In her speech, the President urged the youth to encourage their parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, teachers, schoolmates, friends and neighbors to help them win the war against drugs.

Never accept gifts – candy, food or money – from strangers, the President told the anti-drug war deputies. "If you are forced to accept," report immediately to the authorities, she said.

Likewise, the President went on, report the presence of any suspicious persons in the school or neighborhood to your teachers or parents.

She said the war against illegal drugs is a "fight of the Filipino people…of the Filipino youth."

"Ngayon, mag-People Power muli tayo. Mag-People Power tayo kontra sa bawal na gamut (It’s time to turn to People Power again, to use People Power against illegal drugs)," the President said.

We welcome the fact that the MILF Chairman has himself rejected terror and all acts of terrorism as a means to resolve differences and we hold him responsible for keeping all MILF forces in line, and true to his commitment.

This is an important confidence-building measure that fulfills one of the conditions of President Arroyo for peace negotiations to move forward. On the government side, and anticipating further progress in the peace process, we are taking essential steps to establish a permanent ceasefire and formal negotiations leading to a final peace agreement (FPA).

We urge the MILF Chairman to make an unequivocal statement affirming his agreement to such a permanent ceasefire and the immediate start of talks towards an FPA; and that he will lead the MILF peace panel personally.