MANILA, 19 June 2003 ? Alarmed by reports that the Philippines had become a major transshipment point for drugs, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered a crackdown on illegal drug syndicates.

?I have asked the drug enforcement agencies to ?do a Thaksin,?? Arroyo said, mirroring a similar campaign launched by Thai Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra earlier this year.

?This means neutralization of the top syndicates and the arrest of their leaders, a focused campaign against drug pushers, dealers and patrons in the government, and especially those in uniform,? she said. ?Drug lords, however high in the corridors of power they may be, must be exposed or hunted down like the common criminals that they are.?

She ordered officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other police units to stop ?transnational smuggling of drugs? through the Philippines.

?I shall be personally monitoring the anti-drug campaign and I would like to see strategic results,? Arroyo said, adding that she would allocate 1 billion pesos (about $18.9 million) for the campaign.

She said this was about the same amount as was spent on the three-month anti-drugs campaign in Thailand in which assets worth over 1.2 billion baht ($28 million) were seized from suspected traffickers and more than 81,000 suspected dealers and drug makers surrendered or were arrested.

Nearly 2,300 suspected drug traffickers were killed during the campaign in Thailand. Police claimed many of the killings were carried out by drug traffickers to eliminate potential witnesses to their crimes, but human rights groups and the United Nations have expressed concerns that police were carrying out summary executions.

Drug enforcement agency chief Anselmo Avenido said there are about 3.4 million drug users in the Philippines, mostly using methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly called shabu.

Official figures released this week noted a sharp rise in the number of drug users in the Philippines, which now stand at 3.4 million, from only 20,000 in 1972.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also said up to 70 percent of those behind bars were jailed on drug-related offenses.

Senator Robert Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, said 22 of 37 foreigners arrested in drug busts last year were Chinese, indicating that drug syndicates from China ?still consider the Philippines as the main transhipment point of illegal drugs to other countries.?

Barbers urged authorities to ?confront this dilemma hammer and tongs using all means available.?

?International drug syndicates will not have the guts and courage to pursue their business in the country if they perceive that we are determined in putting an end to their nefarious activities,? said Barbers.

?These foreign drug syndicates are more deadly now than the Abu Sayyaf,? he said, referring to the Moro extremist group notorious for kidnappings and beheadings.