President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has created a task force that seeks to stop to the rampant recruitment of overseas Filipinos as drug couriers by international drug syndicates. “There is a need to conduct an intensive and unrelenting campaign against drug syndicates victimizing Filipinos as drug courier,” Arroyo said after issuing Administrative Order 279 mandating the creation of Drug Couriers Task Force. The task force's main function is to develop and carry out strategies to counter the recruitment of Filipinos as drug mules by international drug trafficking syndicates. It is also tasked to conduct a sustained media campaign to deter the recruitment, and to go after drug syndicate members in the Philippines. The task group will also coordinate with counterpart agencies in other countries to undertake bilateral or regional actions against the use of Filipinos as drug mules. Arroyo created the task force as she admitted that there is an “alarming increase” in the number of Filipinos who have been “enticed, duped and subsequently recruited to act as drug couriers by international drug trafficking syndicates.” In China alone, 66 Filipinos – 53 of whom are women – have been sentenced to death for possession of illegal drugs. Many others have been languishing in jail while awaiting their final conviction. The task force will be headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Immigration and Customs bureaus, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Information Agency, Manila International Airport Authority and the Philippine Tourism Authority as members. The task force's initial operating budget will come from President Arroyo's contingent fund. Afterward, its operating expenses will be included in the budget of the Office of the President.
