SENATOR JV Ejercito said Friday he was beginning to suspect that China had been deliberately turning a blind eye to the drug problem as the biggest bulk of shabu and other illegal drugs in the Philippines was coming from that country.
“It’s like the Opium War in the 18th century, when the Chinese battled the illegal opium shipments to China by foreign traders, mostly British,” Ejercito said.
He said the situation in the Philippines now was quite the same, with the difference that some Chinese were possibly the major distributors of illegal drugs to the Philippines.
He said the Duterte administration should focus on China as a result.
“I believe we can never win the war against illegal drugs as long as our fight is confined to the streets and the killing small narcotics retailers, pushers and drug addicts,” Ejercito said.
“This strategy will only pile up the body bags.”
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the government’s war against illegal drugs, which was launched after President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency.
The latest illegal drug haul in the country, involved P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China. The drugs were discovered inside the Hong Fei Logistics warehouse in Valenzuela that is owned by Chen Ju Long alias Richard Tan, a Chinese citizen from Xiamen.
“We hope to be seeing the big fish in handcuffs” Ejercito said.
“We need to closely coordinate with the Chinese authorities. If they’re really a sincere ally, they can put a stop to the shipments of illegal drugs to the Philippines.”