By Roy Pelovello and Rey E. Requejo

As the new drug czarina, President Arroyo should give priority to the dismantling of 26 drug syndicates that have been identified by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, a Cebuano lawmaker said yesterday.

At the hearing of the House oversight committee on dangerous drugs, Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco said that in one of their executive sessions, PDEA officials provided the panel a list of the drug syndicates.

The PDEA officers mentioned some 32 big drug syndicates and out of the 32 they were able to bust only six., Cuenco said. ??Now, we have a new drug czar and I think it?s about time the new drug czar takes hold of this problem and lead the busting of these 26 big drug syndicates,? said Cuenco, vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs.

Cuenco wondered why law enforcement agencies have not been able to run down the 26 big drug syndicates in the country when they have known the people behind these drug rings all along.

?I hope that the new drug czar will really crack down, bust open all these drug syndicates. No stone should be left unturned and these drug rings should be busted right here and now,? Cuenco said.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo said she will be the country?s anti-drug czar in the wake of the controversy surrounding the case of the ?Alabang Boys.?

This developed as Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that military men in active duty who are assigned to the PDEA ?should go back to barracks? or resign from the Armed Forces if they want to continue as anti-drug agents.

Gonzalez said that PDEA should weed out the military officers because a provision in the 1987 Constitution does not allow active duty militarymen to be ?appointed or designated in any capacity to a civilian position in the government.?

Among the militarymen with the PDEA is Maj. Ferdinand Marcelo, chief of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service.

Marcelo had testified before the House panel that there were at least two attempts to bribe him. One was a phone call from a certain Joe Tecson who offered P3 million in exchange for dropping the case.

He also said he was approached by a ?mistah? from Philippine Military Academy Class 1994 to inform him that someone was ready to offer him three million pesos in exchange for a dismissal.

?If he [PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago] insists on doing that [using active soldiers as PDEA agents], he could be held administratively liable. That?s culpable violation of the constitution,? Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also said it was possible that ?the operations conducted by these active military men in the PDEA may be invalid because they are no authority to do so.?

Speaker Prospero Nograles earlier welcomed Mrs. Arroyo?s decision to personally lead the fight against drugs, saying ?nobody can do it better under the circumstances.?