MANILA, April 15 -- The campaign against illegal drugs that continue to plague penal facilities will be strengthened with the establishment of an inter-agency Operations Center inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), the Bureau of Corrections said Monday.

"The office and barracks for the inter-agency collaborative groups will pave the way for the synchronization of an anti-illegal drug campaign in and out of the state prison and penal farms," BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. said in a statement following the center's inauguration.

The Operations Center was established under the Memorandum of Agreement earlier signed by BuCor with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Nat...