12 February 2004 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo Albert today said that through international cooperation and coordination, in nearly simultaneous police actions in the Philippines and China, police authorities from both countries achieved major victories in the war against drugs by making important
arrests and seizures. 

“These major victories in the war against illicit drugs are a direct result of the goodwill that has been established between the leaders of the Philippines and China and their common desire to vigorously address the international drug problem.  This goodwill and common objective were enshrined in the Memorandum of
Understanding between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China on Cooperation Against the Illicit Traffic and Abuse of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursor Chemicals which was signed during the visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to China in October 2001,” Secretary Albert said.

“I congratulate the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and all the Philippine agencies involved, and their counterparts from the Ministry of Public Safety and the Narcotics Control Bureau of China for the seizure of large cache of illegal drugs in a factory-compound situated within an industrial park in Bulacan.

Elements of the PDEA and the Philippine National Police (PNP) raided the shabu laboratory in a compound in Meycauyan Industrial Park Subdivision, Phase 2, Bgy. Pantoc, Meycauyan, Bulacan early today. The raiding unit found a 40-footer container van which contained 300 kilos of finished "shabu" product worth 600 million pesos.

“I understand that this is the biggest seizure of illicit drugs from an external source,” Secretary Albert said.

The Secretary noted that as the raid was being conducted in Bulacan, Chinese authorities were conducting simultaneous raids in China to arrest those involved in smuggling these drugs into the Philippines.

“The fundamental framework for cooperation with China on the war against drugs was established through the MOU during the visit of the President to China .  The President subsequently instructed the DILG and the PDEA to establish operational guidelines for the MOU, which were worked out and signed by Director General Anselmo S. Avelino, Jr. of the PDEA and Director General Yang Feng Rui of the Narcotics Control Bureau of China on 6 August 2003 in China.  We are committed to continue working with China in fighting this blight that has victimized so many of our citizens,” the Secretary said. END.