THE UNCHECKED ROUTE (Part 2)

Paper Ports: The Task Force With One Office

by Mark Morales

ILOILO CITY — On February 9, 2019, eight government agencies gathered at the Iloilo International Port in Lapuz and signed a memorandum. They created the Seaport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group 6 — SIADITG-6.

The press release promised "to safeguard the region's ports" from illegal drugs. The photo showed the PPA, PDEA, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Customs, PNP Maritime, NBI, and two others holding the signed document.

Five years later, that task force still operates from the same single room in Lapuz. It has no x-ray machines, no dedicated K9 unit for Western Visayas, and no permanent presence in the seven ports where drugs actually land.

It has a lot of meetings.

What the paper says

The 2019 PNA report on the launch is specific: SIADITG-6 would "monitor all seaports in Western Visayas" and "conduct joint interdiction operations." The member agencies would share intelligence and "establish checkpoints."

The reality, according to PDEA's own accomplishment reports and COA audits:

• Staffing: PDEA Region 6's Seaport Interdiction Unit covers all of Panay and Guimaras. Nationally, PDEA planned to hire 110 agents for "13 key seaports and 1,200 private seaports." That's one agent for every 11 ports.
• Equipment: The 2023-2024 PPA procurement plan for Region 6 lists CCTV cameras, fiber optic cables, and office furniture. No vehicle x-ray scanners. The 2023 COA audit instead flagged P18 million in "unnecessary" office equipment and high-end phones.
• Operations: Instead of port interdiction, the unit's public Facebook posts show "drug awareness symposiums for fisherfolk" in Concepcion, Iloilo, and "information drives" in schools.

The gap between press release and port

When Senator Tulfo asked PPA in 2024 why there were no x-ray machines in RoRo ports, PPA officials said they would "coordinate with SIADITG."

But SIADITG-6 has no procurement budget. It's a coordinating body. The actual port operator — PPA — controls the money. And PPA's budget goes to weighbridges and CCTVs, which detect overloaded trucks, not shabu in fish boxes.

A 2022 PPA accomplishment report for Western Visayas proudly lists "improved port security through CCTV installation" at Dumangas and Caticlan. It does not list a single drug seizure at those ports.

That's because seizures don't happen there. They happen inland, after the task force's jurisdiction ends.

Why one office can't cover 1,200 ports

The math is simple:

• Western Visayas has 2 international ports, 7 major RoRo ports, and 47 municipal fish ports. Nationally, PPA counts over 1,200 "private ports" — many are just concrete ramps in northern Iloilo used by pump boats.
• SIADITG-6's operations center is staffed by detailed personnel from member agencies. In practice, that's 6-8 people on rotation, according to PDEA-6's own staffing disclosures in budget hearings.
• They cannot be in Batangas, Calapan, Roxas, Caticlan, Dumangas, and Estancia at the same time. So they wait for intelligence — which means they wait for a shipment to already be on Panay.

The P14 million February 2026 seizure in northern Iloilo? PDEA's press release said it took "nearly four months of surveillance." That's not interdiction. That's tracking a shipment that sailed through seven ports untouched.

Paper ports

The term "paper ports" came from a retired Coast Guard officer interviewed for this series (on condition of anonymity). "We have paper task forces for paper ports," he said. "The memorandum looks good in Manila. In Estancia, there's one PPA guard with a logbook."

COA agrees. Its 2023 audit of PPA noted 166 vehicles worth P219 million that were "unregistered and unused" — sitting in motor pools while ports lacked scanners.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs in Manila — which does have x-ray machines — seized P749 million in shabu in March 2025 alone because the machine flagged misdeclared cargo.

In Western Visayas, the same cargo arrives without ever passing a machine.

Next in the series: Part 3 — "Balasan, Estancia, Carles: Why Here?" — mapping the 23 busts and why northern Iloilo's fish ports became the landing zone.

Sources Part 2:

• PNA, Feb 9 2019: "8 agencies form task group vs illegal drugs in WV ports"
• PDEA Seaport Interdiction Unit staffing plan (110 agents / 1,200 ports)
• COA 2023 PPA Audit Report
• PPA Region 6 Procurement Monitoring Reports 2023-2024
• Senate hearing 2024, Tulfo-PPA exchange
• PDEA-6 press releases on symposiums (Concepcion)