ARTICLE IX - Special Penal Laws (compiled codal)

(1) Secretary of the Department of Justice or his/her representative;

(2) Secretary of the Department of Health or his/her representative;

(3) Secretary of the Department of National Defense or his/her representative;

(4) Secretary of the Department of Finance or his/her representative;

(5) Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment or his/her representative;

(6) Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government or his/her representative;

(7) Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development or his/her representative;

(8) Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs or his/her representative;

(9) Secretary of the Department of Education or his/her representative;

(10) Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education or his/her representative;

(11) Chairman of the National Youth Commission;

(12) Director General of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

(a) The president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; and

(b) The chairman or president of a non-government organization involved in dangerous drug campaign to be appointed by the President of the Philippines.

(a) Formulate, develop and establish a comprehensive, integrated, unified and balanced national drug use prevention and control strategy;

(b) Promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, including the manner of safekeeping, disposition, burning or condemnation of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical under its charge and custody, and prescribe administrative remedies or sanctions for the violations of such rules and regulations;

(c) Conduct policy studies, program monitoring and evaluations and other researches on drug prevention, control and enforcement;

(d) Initiate, conduct and support scientific, clinical, social, psychological, physical and biological researches on dangerous drugs and dangerous drugs prevention and control measures;

(e) Develop an educational program and information drive on the hazards and prevention of illegal use of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical based on factual data, and disseminate the same to the general public, for which purpose the Board shall endeavor to make the general public aware of the hazards of any dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical by providing among others, literature, films, displays or advertisements and by coordinating with all institutions of learning as well as with all national and local enforcement agencies in planning and conducting its educational campaign programs to be implemented by the appropriate government agencies;

(f) Conduct continuing seminars for, and consultations with, and provide information materials to judges and prosecutors in coordination with the Office of the Court Administrator, in the case of judges, and the DOJ, in the case of prosecutors, which aim to provide them with the current developments and programs of the Board pertinent to its campaign against dangerous drugs and its scientific researches on dangerous drugs, its prevention and control measures;

(g) Design special trainings in order to provide law enforcement officers, members of the judiciary, and prosecutors, school authorities and personnel of centers with knowledge and know-how in dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals control in coordination with the Supreme Court to meet the objectives of the national drug control programs;

(h) Design and develop, in consultation and coordination with the DOH, DSWD and other agencies involved in drugs control, treatment and rehabilitation, both public and private, a national treatment and rehabilitation program for drug dependents including a standard aftercare and community service program for recovering drug dependents;

(i) Design and develop, jointly with the DOLE and in consultation with labor and employer groups as well as nongovernment organizations a drug abuse prevention program in the workplace that would include a provision for employee assistance programs for emotionally-stressed employees;

(j) Initiate and authorize closure proceedings against non-accredited and/or substandard rehabilitation centers based on verified reports of human rights violations, subhuman conditions, inadequate medical training and assistance and excessive fees for implementation by the PDEA;

(k) Prescribe and promulgate rules and regulations governing the establishment of such centers, networks and laboratories as deemed necessary after conducting a feasibility study in coordination with the DOH and other government agencies;

(l) Receive, gather, collect and evaluate all information on the importation, exportation, production, manufacture, sale, stocks, seizures of and the estimated need for any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical, for which purpose the Board may require from any official, instrumentality or agency of the government or any private person or enterprise dealing in, or engaged in activities having to do with any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals such data or information as it may need to implement this Act;

(m) Gather and prepare detailed statistics on the importation, exportation, manufacture, stocks, seizures of and estimates need for any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals and such other statistical data on said drugs as may be periodically required by the United Nations Narcotics Drug Commission, the World Health Organization and other international organizations in consonance with the country's international commitments;

(n) Develop and maintain international networking coordination with international drug control agencies and organizations, and implement the provisions of international conventions and agreements thereon which have been adopted and approved by the Congress of the Philippines;

(o) Require all government and private hospitals, clinics, doctors, dentists and other practitioners to submit a report to it, in coordination with the PDEA, about all dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals-related cases to which they have attended for statistics and research purposes;

(p) Receive in trust legacies, gifts and donations of real and personal properties of all kinds, to administer and dispose the same when necessary for the benefit of government and private rehabilitation centers subject to limitations, directions and instructions from the donors, if any;

(q) Issue guidelines as to the approval or disapproval of applications for voluntary treatment, rehabilitation or confinement, wherein it shall issue the necessary guidelines, rules and regulations pertaining to the application and its enforcement;

(r) Formulate guidelines, in coordination with other government agencies, the importation, distribution, production, manufacture, compounding, prescription, dispensing and sale of, and other lawful acts in connection with any dangerous drug, controlled precursors and essential chemicals and other similar or analogous substances of such kind and in such quantity as it may deem necessary according to the medical and research needs or requirements of the country including diet pills containing ephedrine and other addictive chemicals and determine the quantity and/or quality of dangerous drugs and controlled precursors and essential chemicals to be imported, manufactured and held in stock at any given time by authorized importer, manufacturer or distributor of such drugs;

(s) Develop the utilization of a controlled delivery scheme in addressing the transshipment of dangerous drugs into and out of the country to neutralize transnational crime syndicates involved in illegal trafficking of any dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals;

(t) Recommend the revocation of the professional license of any practitioner who is an owner, co-owner, lessee, or in the employ of the drug establishment, or manager of a partnership, corporation, association, or any juridical entity owning and/or controlling such drug establishment, and who knowingly participates in, or consents to, tolerates, or abets the commission of the act of violations as indicated in the preceding paragraph, all without prejudice to the criminal prosecution of the person responsible for the said violation;

(u) Appoint such technical, administrative and other personnel as may be necessary for the effective implementation of this Act, subject to the Civil Service Law and its rules and regulations;

(v) Establish a regular and continuing consultation with concerned government agencies and medical professional organizations to determine if balance exists in policies, procedures, rules and regulations on dangerous drugs and to provide recommendations on how the lawful use of dangerous drugs can be improved and facilitated; and

(w) Submit an annual and periodic reports to the President, the Congress of the Philippines and the Senate and House of Representatives committees concerned as may be required from time to time, and perform such other functions as may be authorized or required under existing laws and as directed by the President himself/herself or as recommended by the congressional committees concerned.

(a) Implement or cause the efficient and effective implementation of the national drug control strategy formulated by the Board thereby carrying out a national drug campaign program which shall include drug law enforcement, control and prevention campaign with the assistance of concerned government agencies;

(b) Undertake the enforcement of the provisions of Article II of this Act relative to the unlawful acts and penalties involving any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical and investigate all violators and other matters involved in the commission of any crime relative to the use, abuse or trafficking of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical as provided for in this Act and the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1619;

(c) Administer oath, issue subpoena and subpoena duces tecum relative to the conduct of investigation involving the violations of this Act;

(d) Arrest and apprehend as well as search all violators and seize or confiscate, the effects or proceeds of the crimes as provided by law and take custody thereof, for this purpose the prosecutors and enforcement agents are authorized to possess firearms, in accordance with existing laws;

(e) Take charge and have custody of all dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals seized, confiscated or surrendered to any national, provincial or local law enforcement agency, if no longer needed for purposes of evidence in court;

(f) Establish forensic laboratories in each PNP office in every province and city in order to facilitate action on seize or confiscated drugs, thereby hastening its destruction without delay;

(g) Recommend to the DOJ the forfeiture of properties and other assets of persons and/or corporations found to be violating the provisions of this Act and in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Anti-Money-Laundering Act of 2001;

(h) Prepare for prosecution or cause the filing of appropriate criminal and civil cases for violation of all laws on dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals, and other similar controlled substances, and assist, support and coordinate with other government agencies for the proper and effective prosecution of the same;

(i) Monitor and if warranted by circumstances, in coordination with the Philippine Postal Office and the Bureau of Customs, inspect all air cargo packages, parcels and mails in the central post office, which appear from the package and address itself to be a possible importation of dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals, through on-line or cyber shops via the internet or cyberspace;

(j) Conduct eradication programs to destroy wild or illegal growth of plants from which dangerous drugs may be extracted;

(k) Initiate and undertake the formation of a nationwide organization which shall coordinate and supervise all activities against drug abuse in every province, city, municipality and barangay with the active and direct participation of all such local government units and nongovernmental organizations, including the citizenry, subject to the provisions of previously formulated programs of action against dangerous drugs;

(l) Establish and maintain a national drug intelligence system in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, other government agencies/offices and local government units that will assist in its apprehension of big-time drug lords;

(m) Establish and maintain close coordination, cooperation and linkages with international drug control and administration agencies and organizations, and implement the applicable provisions of international conventions and agreements related to dangerous drugs to which the Philippines is a signatory;

(n) Create and maintain an efficient special enforcement unit to conduct an investigation, file charges and transmit evidence to the proper court, wherein members of the said unit shall possess suitable and adequate firearms for their protection in connection with the performance of their duties: Provided, That no previous special permit for such possession shall be required;

(o) Require all government and private hospitals, clinics, doctors, dentists and other practitioners to submit a report to it, in coordination with the Board, about all dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals which they have attended to for data and information purposes;

(p) Coordinate with the Board for the facilitation of the issuance of necessary guidelines, rules and regulations for the proper implementation of this Act;

(q) Initiate and undertake a national campaign for drug prevention and drug control programs, where it may enlist the assistance of any department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the government, including government-owned and or - controlled corporations, in the anti-illegal drugs drive, which may include the use of their respective personnel, facilities, and resources for a more resolute detection and investigation of drug-related crimes and prosecution of the drug traffickers; and

(r) Submit an annual and periodic reports to the Board as may be required from time to time, and perform such other functions as may be authorized or required under existing laws and as directed by the President himself/herself or as recommended by the congressional committees concerned.