A renowned British-Australian public health expert has been jailed in the Philippines for almost two years on what he believes are false drug charges. He is now challenging the country's primary drug enforcement agency, accusing them of fabricating evidence, theft, and corruption.
Philippines' Drug Enforcement Agency Faces Backlash
Elden Chamberlain, age 60, was scheduled to open his defense case in the regional trial court in the city of Cagayan de Oro. This case is expected to bring attention to previous allegations against the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the wake of the country's notorious bloody "war on drugs."
According to The Guardian, Chamberlain and witnesses for his defense claim in affidavits that illicit drugs were hidden in his house, evidence was interfered with, and food and money were stolen.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday, September 8, but it was postponed until October 19.
Congressional and senate committees in the Philippines are looking into reports that PDEA agents have been trafficking narcotics among themselves, as well as allegations of false charges and human rights violations by the agency.
In addition, the agency is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its role in at least 12,000 deaths that occurred during the "war on drugs" era, in which former President Rodrigo Duterte advocated for the shooting of drug users.
Who Is Elden Chamberlain?
For the last 30 years, British-born and Australia-raised Chamberlain (who now makes his permanent home in the Philippines) has worked as a consultant for UN agencies, AusAid, and US Aid on HIV/Aids advocacy projects across southeast Asia. For the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, he supervised the western Pacific region.
His references are from the western region's board members. One of them, Fiu Williame-Igara, also oversees operations in Papua New Guinea for the Save the Children organization. Chamberlain is a "person of the highest integrity and deeply respected colleague," according to her description.
But since 2019, he has been portrayed as a "drug fiend" in the Manila media and claims to be in constant terror of PDEA officials. He has spent time in prison twice while awaiting trial on two distinct sets of accusations.
He and his co-accused, Ace Lanzaderas, the administrator for the Global Fund in the western Pacific area, are now lodged in the Cagayan de Oro municipal prison. Similarly, Lanzaderas has entered a not-guilty plea.
Chamberlain claims he does not understand the basis for his charges. He believes he can disprove the accusations but had less than four hours of court time throughout his nineteen months behind bars.
The first charges against Chamberlain were filed in September 2019. He was the Chairman of the Australian Thai Foundation for HIV and had just returned to the Philippines after a business trip in Thailand.
In the affluent Manila neighborhood of Makati, he went to collect a debt from an HIV-positive drug addict who owed him money. Methamphetamines and gamma-butyrolactone, according to the police, were discovered in the apartment. Chamberlain was then accused of running a drug den.
