00:00Good evening, I am Floyd Brenz. This is PTV News Now and we'll end tonight with our top story.
00:09The Palace clarified that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has no authority in changing the leadership of Congress.
00:17Palace Press Officer and PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro emphasized that such decisions are entirely up to the congressman themselves.
00:26This statement comes amid recent rumors that Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno might replace House Speaker Boji D., who has only been in office for barely three months.
00:37Castro reiterated that the President is not involved in these matters and is entirely up to House of Representatives to decide its leadership.
00:46She also reminded the public not to attribute congressional decisions to the President without confirmation.
00:51Ang pagpili po kasi ng liderato ng Kongreso ay wala naman po sa kamay ng Pangulo.
00:57Kung ano po ang kanila magiging decision dyan, kung ano ang kanilang pagiging pagpapatakbo dyan, hindi po yan saklaw ng Pangulo.
01:05So, nasa kanila po yan, kung ano po yung nais nilang gawin sa House of Representatives.
01:10Wala po akong nakikita at wala pong ganun.
01:13Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid prescribed to treat severe chronic pain, is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States.
01:24Some 45,000 fatalities in a 12-month period ending March this year.
01:30Hence, to stem the flow of deadly drug in the U.S., high-tech scanners are in place along U.S.-Mexico border to detect narcotic like this one in Arizona.
01:40B.O.E. Senior Correspondent Caroline Presutti reports.
01:45I was right here. I was facing this direction.
01:48Yeah.
01:48And I remember hearing your voice come up behind me.
01:51Donnie McKillop's wife Jasmine found him here at this bus stop in Tucson, Arizona.
01:56Then they each held their breath.
01:59And the world went silent for just a moment.
02:02I thought you were going to yell at me and scream at me.
02:05Yeah.
02:05Mm-hmm.
02:06I didn't want to do that.
02:08Yeah.
02:08McKillop was back on fentanyl.
02:10He'd been missing for six months.
02:13I turned to fentanyl because I couldn't find heroin, and it was easy to find.
02:17Fentanyl is cheap and potent, but the high is brief, leaving the user constantly on the hunt to buy more.
02:24McKillop was paying about a dollar a pill and using up to 20 a day.
02:28More than likely, McKillop's pills were smuggled through here, the Nogales-Mariposa port of entry.
02:36It's the closest U.S.-Mexico border crossing to his house.
02:42These scanners x-ray the trucks to look for drugs.
02:46Low energy beams for the cab where the driver sits.
02:49Higher energy for the trailer and its cargo.
02:52These machines were installed at this crossing last year.
02:55Because drivers no longer have to stop and get out, the port has gone from scanning 100 trucks a day to 700.
03:03It would look like this, like a floor.
03:05Border officers then analyze the scan and look for something odd.
03:09VOA was given an exclusive look at the control room to see how the government discovers fentanyl.
03:14They notice that the floor seems a lot more dense.
03:18It looks darker in the x-ray than the previous truck did.
03:23That's an anomaly.
03:24Each of these little squares is a packet of drugs.
03:27Now see if you can find the narcotics here.
03:30The round shadows are the cargo.
03:32It's a truck of melons.
03:34See anything out of place?
03:35The contraband is here.
03:37These rectangular packages on the floor of the trailer are the drugs.
03:41Passenger cars drive through regular border checks.
03:45Some are sent for a more thorough search.
03:49Others go through scanners that transmit the images to Officer Alejandro Bachelier.
03:54They tend to load up these cars with the fentanyl pills in the doors, in the firewall, the quarter panels.
04:02Fentanyl seizures doubled every year in the past five years.
04:05Customs officers here and at all the Nogales ports found 60% of that fentanyl.
04:12Earlier this month, the Mexican government agreed to send 10,000 troops to stop the flow of migrants and illegal drugs at its border.
04:20U.S. President Donald Trump brokered the deal in exchange for delaying tariffs on Mexico.
04:25Ramirez says the street price of fentanyl is reportedly going up.
04:29So that tells you that the demand is there, but we're hurting the supply.
04:33Did you show them?
04:35Um, we didn't do it today.
04:37McKillop suggests Americans stop stigmatizing people addicted to drugs.
04:42Once I realized that my family was there, my family still loved me, you know, that hope was sparked again.
04:51And now he's hoping his days of addiction are behind him.
04:56It feels good.
04:58Carolyn Prasuti, VOA News, Tucson, Arizona.
05:01And that brings us to the end of tonight's broadcast.
05:07We'll be back tomorrow.
05:09Tune in for the latest headlines.
05:11I am Floyd Brantz.
05:12Thank you for letting us be part of your evening.
05:14Tune in for the latest headlines.
05:15Tune in for the latest headlines.
