LUCENA CITY, Quezon — Fisherfolk in Quezon are being urged to become an extra set of eyes at sea as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) intensifies efforts to stop illegal drugs from being smuggled through the province’s coastal waters.
PDEA Director General Isagani R. Nerez delivered the warning during an Empathy Dialogue with Fisherfolk of Lucena City on August 11 at the Lucena Convention Center. The activity, led by PDEA Region IV-A, focused on helping fishermen recognize possible drug-trafficking schemes and report suspicious activity without putting themselves in danger.
Why fishermen are now on the front line
According to PDEA, foreign drug syndicates have reportedly approached or used local fishermen to locate and retrieve illegal drugs deliberately left floating at sea.
Authorities warned that fishermen could be offered large sums of money to recover contraband, potentially turning unsuspecting members of coastal communities into unwilling participants in organized drug trafficking.
Nerez urged fishermen who encounter suspicious packages or suspected illegal drugs at sea to immediately coordinate with authorities and surrender the items through proper channels rather than attempting to transport, conceal or sell them.
The strategy comes as several significant drug discoveries have already been reported along Quezon’s coastal areas.
Floating drug packages have already reached Quezon shores
In May, a 52-year-old fisherman in Patnanungan, Quezon, voluntarily surrendered five sealed plastic bags containing about 6.5 kilograms of suspected cocaine. Authorities placed the estimated value at approximately ₱34.5 million. The packages were believed to have drifted ashore before being discovered.
The incident was followed by another discovery in June, when a fisherman in the same island municipality turned over a package containing about 1.1 kilograms of suspected cocaine, valued at roughly ₱5.87 million based on PDEA’s standard valuation.
Earlier in April, a separate recovery of approximately 3.28 kilograms of suspected shabu, valued at around ₱22.3 million, was reported floating near a remote island community in Patnanungan. The discovery prompted authorities to strengthen coastal surveillance and encourage residents to report suspicious packages.
Taken together, the incidents illustrate why authorities increasingly view coastal communities as important partners in detecting maritime drug trafficking.
PDEA wants vigilance—not risky intervention
The government’s message to fishermen is not to confront suspected traffickers themselves.
Instead, PDEA is encouraging communities to observe, report and turn over suspicious items through authorities.
The agency said it is coordinating with the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Armed Forces of the Philippines and National Bureau of Investigation in monitoring coastal areas and responding to suspected trafficking activity. PDEA also said rewards of up to ₱2 million may be available depending on the classification or grade of drugs reported or surrendered.
Around 500 fisherfolk attended the Lucena dialogue and received rice and tokens as part of the government’s community-engagement efforts.
The bigger concern: the sea is becoming a trafficking route
The developments in Quezon are part of a broader national concern over maritime drug trafficking.
In Cagayan, PDEA has likewise enlisted fisherfolk as community partners in monitoring coastal waters along the northeastern seaboard. Authorities there have pointed to previous discoveries of suspected shabu drifting at sea, underscoring the difficulty of monitoring vast stretches of Philippine coastline.
The country’s maritime drug problem has also prompted stronger cooperation among enforcement agencies. In February, the Bureau of Customs and PDEA formalized a renewed partnership aimed at strengthening intelligence sharing, inspection and interdiction against drug smuggling at ports.
For Quezon’s fishing communities, however, the challenge is much closer to home: suspicious packages can appear along the very waters where fishermen work every day.
And with recent multimillion-peso drug recoveries in the province, authorities are making one point increasingly clear—the people at sea may be among the first to notice when something is wrong.
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