I refer to the war that President Rodrigo Duterte has waged on illegal drugs and corruption. And my answer is neither.
The President waged these wars as soon as he assumed office nearly two years.
I consider how we view the war on drugs a mistake. He considers it a law-and-order issue that can be solved by having the police undertake a killing spree.
But this is a health issue, which must be addressed through community-based rehabilitation centers nationwide. Drug abuse is primarily a family problem. Young boys and girls get into drugs because of multiple reasons. There is also peer pressure when one gets into the wrong barkada.
I also know that when one gets into drugs, he or she develops psychological and physiological problems that can only be cured through months or years of rehabilitation. I have first-hand information on this because I was vice president at the DARE Foundation from the 70s to the 90s. This was a time when drugs—marijuana for the poor and heroin and cocaine for the rich—became prevalent.
I also had the opportunity to visit Daytop Foundation to see how it rehabilitated drug addicts.
The problem with illegal drugs in the Philippines is one of supply and demand. With some three million to four million addicts nationwide, the demand is high, It’s a multi-billion dollar industry dominated by the big cartels.
This is why the brutal war continues here. Even President Duterte admits that he will still be fighting illegal drugs up to the last day of his six-year term.
If shabu worth P6.4 billion can be smuggled through the main port of Manila, we can only imagine how it can get through other sub-ports of the BoC. It was also discovered that sometimes shabu is dropped off in waterproof boxes and cans by passing vessels, ready to be picked up by distributors and dealers.
With the President’s determination to end his drug war at the earliest possible time, the problem of extra-judicial killings becomes prevalent. These killings have caused local and international human rights organizations to accuse the President of committing crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. While state-sanctioned killing has not been a policy of the Duterte administration, one cannot help asking: When will all these end?
Another problem is that some politicians have been identified as drug lords. In fact, President Duterte has a list of them. Will he also have them killed by the police?
And then, given the large number of drug users who have surrendered, jails are packed and inmates suffer in sub-human conditions. They will emerge worse criminals than they ever were.
I believe it’s too late for President Duterte to change gears in his war against drugs. He should realize by now that the United States government does not go about killing addicts. They run after suppliers and distributors instead.
The drug problem is a vicious cycle. It creates users and addicts. The more there are, the higher the demand goes. International suppliers provide them the drugs.
I think the only way the Duterte administration can address the drug problem is for it to mount a nationwide community-based rehabilitation.
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Another war which President Duterte is neither winning or losing is corruption. I praised Mr. Duterte’s move to sack even close friends and appointees who goes on junkets. He says he does not hesitate to fire any of them if there is so much as a “whiff of corruption” to their name.
But while he has done much on this front, the problem does not look like it will end soon. The Customs bureau, for instance, continues to be a hotbed of smuggling.
I am told, for instance, that the notorious “tara” system continues where corrupt Customs officials and even employees meet continues. Bribe money is distributed during these meetings.
I covered Customs for many years when I was still business editor of Philippines Herald. I know how it goes at Customs. So long as there are corrupt officials and employees, there will be brokers and importers who will try their luck. It is said that out of 10 smuggled containers, one or two get inspected and seized. The other eight become part of the modus.
This is why I believe the only way to solve corruption at Customs is to privatize it. All other things must be given to private businesses that will guarantee that they would attain collection targets. Other progressive countries have done it—why not us?
Actually, corruption cannot be stopped. It can only be reduced.