THE UNCHECKED ROUTE (Part 5)

The Fix: Three Machines, P150 Million, and a Law Already on the Books

by Mark Morales

ILOILO — After five parts, 23 seizures, seven ports, and zero x-ray machines, the question isn't whether drugs are coming through northern Iloilo. The police reports prove they are.

The question is what it costs to stop them at the port instead of in a house three kilometers away.

The answer is in three documents already filed in Manila.

1. The law already exists

Republic Act 10863, the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), Section 301, requires the Bureau of Customs to "provide non-intrusive inspection equipment at all major ports of entry."

PPA's own charter, PD 857 as amended, mandates it to "provide port facilities for the safety and security of passengers and cargo."

Senator Raffy Tulfo cited both in his 2024 hearing. His question to PPA: "Bakit sa airport may x-ray, sa pier wala?" ("Why do airports have x-ray, but piers don't?")

PPA's answer then: "We will submit a report."

That report has not been made public as of June 2026.

2. The price tag

In 2025, the Bureau of Customs procured two mobile x-ray scanners for P75 million each — capable of scanning a full 40-foot container truck in under 3 minutes. They were deployed at Manila North Harbor and Subic.

Three machines would cover the entire Western Visayas corridor:

• Caticlan Jetty Port (entry from Mindoro/Batangas)
• Dumangas RoRo Port (main Panay entry)
• Iloilo International Port (back-up and training hub)

Total cost: roughly P225 million. That's less than PPA's 2023 "unnecessary expenditures" flagged by COA (P18 million in office equipment plus P219 million in unused vehicles = P237 million).

In other words, PPA already spent more on vehicles it didn't register than it would cost to buy the scanners that Tulfo asked for.

3. Who pays

PPA collects port fees on every vehicle that boards a RoRo. In 2023, PPA Region 6 reported P1.4 billion in gross revenue. A 5% security surcharge — already allowed under PPA Memorandum Circular 12-2019 — would fund three scanners in 18 months without touching the national budget.

The alternative is what we're doing now: funding four-month surveillance operations, buy-busts, and rehabilitation for communities where the drugs land.

The February 2026 P14 million seizure alone cost PDEA-6 an estimated P2.3 million in surveillance manpower, according to standard PDEA operational costings cited in Senate budget hearings.

That's 3% of one x-ray machine — spent after the drugs already passed seven ports.

What other regions did

• Cebu: PPA installed a mobile x-ray at Cebu Baseport in 2023 after a P1.2 billion shabu seizure. Port seizures in Central Visayas dropped 40% the following year, per PDEA-7 data.
• Davao: The Mindanao Container Terminal has had mandatory x-ray since 2021. No major inland seizures have been traced to that port since.
• Batangas: After Tulfo's hearing, PPA committed to a pilot scanner in 2025. It is still "under procurement" as of June 2026.

Western Visayas is the only major RORO corridor in the country without one.

The recommendation

Based on public documents reviewed for this series, three actions would close the 600km gap:

1. PPA Region 6 to procure two mobile vehicle x-ray units for Caticlan and Dumangas using its retained earnings, not national appropriation. Timeline: 12-18 months.
2. SIADITG-6 to move from coordination to operation — place permanent PDEA and K9 teams at those two ports, not just in Lapuz.
3. Iloilo Provincial Government to pass an ordinance requiring all municipal fish ports receiving RoRo cargo to install CCTV linked to the PNP, as a condition for PPA accreditation. This costs under P500,000 per port.

None of these require a new law. All are within existing budgets.

Why this series matters

Over five parts, we traced P47.6 million in confirmed shabu seizures in northern Iloilo alone — all from shipments that passed through ports with no scanners.

We did not name suspects. We did not publish addresses. We named only the agencies that are mandated by law to stop this, and showed — using their own audits, press releases, and Senate testimony — that the equipment is missing.

The drugs will keep coming through the fish ports because the fish ports are built for fish, not for security. The RORO highway was built for trade, and it works. It just works for everyone.

Until someone turns on an x-ray machine, the police will keep doing four-month surveillances, and the seizures will keep happening in houses, not at ports.

That is the unchecked route.

Series complete:

• Part 1: No X-Ray: 7 Ports, 600km, Zero Scans
• Part 2: Paper Ports: The Task Force With One Office
• Part 3: Why Northern Iloilo? Fish Ports, RORO Access, and a 3-Kilometer Gap
• Part 4: Four Months of Watching: How PDEA Really Works (draft available on request)
• Part 5: The Fix: Three Machines, P150 Million, and a Law Already on the Books

Full source packet available: COA 2023 PPA audit, Senate hearing transcripts 2024, PDEA-6 reports 2022-2026, PPA procurement plans, BOC scanner costs.