Tulfo questions PNP’s inaction on marijuana sales online

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) failure to detect marijuana sellers on e-retailer platforms took center stage in a Senate hearing on Wednesday, prompting a senator to question the force’s competence.

During the Senate panel on ways and means hearing on rising incidents of illicit trade on excisable products, Sen. Raffy Tulfo revealed that marijuana is being sold through e-retailer platforms Lazada and Shopee.

“Ang daming nagbebenta ng marijuana sa Shopee, hulihin niyo,” he instructed PNP Counter Intelligence and Security Division chief Pcol. Feloteo Gozalgo during the public inquiry.

(So many people are selling marijuana on Shopee. Arrest them.)

“Sabihin niyo sa anti-drug [department] na gumawa kayo ng mga operations. Yung pagbebenta ng mga marijuana online. The fact na hindi kayo kumikilos tataas ang kilay ng marami nating kababayan. Pero pagdating sa mga beerhouse ang bilis niyo mag raid. Yung mga sumasayaw sayaw dyan sa beer house nire-raid niyo every now and then,” he added.

(Tell the anti-drug department to conduct operations against the sale of marijuana online. The fact that you’re not taking action raises eyebrows among many of our fellow citizens. But when it comes to beerhouses, you’re quick to raid them. You’re raiding those places where people are dancing every now and then.)

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Tulfo questioned why the PNP failed to detect such a scheme, to which Gozalgo simply replied, “I think we will be extending our operations based on online platforms.”

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Gozalgo then explained that PNP operations are always in coordination and collaboration with the agency primarily responsible for implementing “particular laws.”

Tulfo, however, insisted that the PNP should monitor all wrongdoers, regardless of the platform.

“Gumagawa kayo ng entrapment operation [at] hinuhuli niyo. I commend you, sabi mo marami na kayong ginagawa sa labas — okay well and good, thank you. How about doon sa online? Hindi niyo ginagalaw. Di ba po nakakataas ng kilay? Tama?” he said.

(You’re conducting entrapment operations and making arrests, which I commend you for. You said you’re doing a lot of work on the ground—okay, well and good, thank you. But what about online? You’re not touching that. Doesn’t that raise eyebrows? Right?)

Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, presiding over the hearing as panel chair, presented real-time evidence showing that the public can easily access illicit tobacco products on e-retailer platforms, including Facebook Marketplace, Lazada, Shopee, TikTok, and Instagram.

“But the first line of defense is always with the platforms. Because the platforms know all the transactions; all the products being posted there in your platform. So, the first line of defense is the platform. If the platform allows this, it will happen. And then the second line of defense will be the Department of Trade and Industry using their investigation and take down powers,” said Gatchalian.

Speaking on behalf of Shopee Philippines, Atty. Jem Hans-Segovia stated that the platform is fully committed to complying with government regulations.

“We continuously improve our platform — we continuously conduct proactive measures to improve our platform. We are working on certain system improvements to allow us to further collect permits and licenses from our sellers so that we can further screen which products are prohibited and which are not,” she said.

Similar to Hans-Segovia’s explanation, Ken Estiller of Lazada Philippines said they are discussing internally how to modify their age-gating measures to make them “much stricter” and harder to bypass, particularly by enhancing facial recognition features.

“This is something that we are looking to implement. As much as we want to implement this ASAP, there will have to be platform-wide changes in order for this to be integrated. That is where it will take just a little bit of time, but it is something that we’re working on,” said Estiller.

“Another aspect is that we are also conducting productive sweeps on the platform. It is unfortunate that we have these kinds of products that are shown on the platform. This is something that we obviously do not want to have on the platform because we want products there to be licit, compliant, and what is being prescribed by the law,” he added.