President Duterte wants another six months to end his bloody war on illegal drugs. He says he cannot stop the momentum of his war. If he does, the country could end up as a narco state. “I will not stop until the last drug pusher is killed,” he said.
He even boasted that if he could not end this menace that could ruin the next generation, he would resign.
Yes, with a body count of more than 5,600, it would seem that the President is really winning his war—despite accusations that these are extrajudicial killings.
There is a big question, however: Can Mr. Duterte really claim to win his war on illegal drugs after the last of the drug lords and drug pushers have been killed?
The President himself has said that, according to reports, there are no less than 4 million illegal drug users and 10,000 illegal drug network spread throughout the country. There are thousands of protectors among public officials.
My gulay, just to prosecute and convict all those involved would take years on end! Unless, of course, the President lets loose the police to kill all of them.
As I have said many times before, killing all those involved is not all there is to it in the war on drugs.
If there are truly 4 million drug addicts, it is clear that drug cartels outside the Philippines are there to meet the demand. These cartels have even managed to make the Philippines their transshipment point in their worldwide operations.
The illegal drug menace worldwide is multi-billion dollar industry, the bane of almost every country. Our neighbors in Southeast Asia have the same problem. Despite the fact that some of these countries mete out the death penalty for those involved in illegal drugs, the cartels continue.
Santa Banana, even the United States, despite its vigilant Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has not contained the entry of cocaine into the US coming from Colombia and Mexico. It’s a $36-billion industry that crosses borders!
Note that Colombia itself has been fighting the big drug cartels for the last 30 years to small success like breaking up the big cartels into smaller ones. In Mexico, the government has just marked its 10th year in fighting drug cartels.
If at all, Duterte can only minimize the impact of illegal drugs in society, considering how corrupt Customs is, and how porous our borders are since we are an archipelago.
What the President should focus on during his six-year term in office is to stop summary killings. These killings, although not sanctioned by the state, somewhat muddles Duterte’s war. It fuels the perception that it is the police doing them.
* * *
The war on corruption is another thing altogether. Reports have it that corruption takes place in agencies like Customs, Immigration, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Energy Regulatory Board, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Public Works and Highways, and almost everywhere else in the bureaucracy. It is clear that corruption is embedded in government.
Corruption in government has been the bane of every administration as far as I can remember—and I have been a journalist for over six decades. Perhaps, the system makes it easy for people in government to steal. Perhaps, it’s because the morals of people have sunk so low that greed and lust for money has blinded them.
But, my gulay, I know for a fact that so long as human discretion is involved in government transaction with the public in public biddings, contracts, agreements and awards, there will always be corruption.
The anatomy of corruption is best exemplified by what happens at the Bureau of Customs.
If President Duterte is so alarmed with 4 million addicts, he should likewise be concerned about corruption being embedded in government. The perception is that when a government official retires and takes his family to travel abroad, or builds a house or buys a car, he must have stolen from government.
Corruption in government is so deeply-rooted and pervasive so much so that when somebody gets appointed in government, it’s already a ticket to steal.
* * *
I am glad that President Duterte has finally realized that he has conceded to the communists “too much, too soon” on the ongoing peace talks. The National Democratic Front, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has threatened to scuttle the peace talks in Rome if President Duterte did not release 130 more political prisoners.
The President has said that he would release the 130 political prisoners only after the communists and the government negotiators have signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement.
The communists have been playing the same game during peace talks with past administrations.
They have always asked for the release of political prisoners before any agreement is reached. In other words, the communists go to the negotiation with bloody hands and want the government to give in to them. They want to have the upper hand in peace negotiations.
The President has already released 16 political prisoners so that NDF and CPP on allegations that they were consultants. Now, they want some more. If the President were to submit what the communists want, he would in effect be losing his bargaining chip. So that’s it.
If peace talks with the communist must continue, President Duterte must first see a bilateral ceasefire agreement signed. For this, I commend the President since peace must not be achieved at all costs.
