“I want to be respected but maybe fear is better,” President Marcos said in a podcast interview, as he discussed his administration’s planned approach to the country’s illegal drug problem.
The President outlined a two-pronged strategy to address both high-level syndicates and the resurgence of street-level drug trade in the communities.
He admitted that while his administration has focused on dismantling large-scale drug trafficking — including major drug seizures and busts of warehouses — there is now a renewed emphasis on addressing local offenders.
“In the same vein… let’s go back to the grassroots level,” Marcos told the reporters.
“If the person is worried, they say, they keep coming back here, let’s take care of them,” he added.
The Chief Executive said recent reports of drug users and small-time pushers returning in some barangays have prompted him to instruct the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to reengage at the community level.
He emphasized that while large operations will continue, small-scale enforcement should not be neglected.
He cited the administration’s “Cops on the Beat” program, where consistent police presence in neighborhoods helps officers familiarize themselves with the situation on the ground and discourage street-level crimes.
“Because if there’s someone there, going around every day, they know all of that,” the President said.
He also acknowledged the deep-rooted challenges in dismantling drug syndicates, pointing to corruption involving law enforcement, local government officials, and even members of the judiciary.
“The syndicate includes the police, it includes the local government,” he said.
“They have so much money… they can buy everything—judge, prosecutor,” the President noted.
Despite the renewed focus on local offenders, Marcos firmly rejected the violent tactics of the previous administration, saying arrests must be based on solid evidence and due process.
“I avoid it when there’s just a suspicion or a report, that they’ll just arrest and kill,” he said.
“We moved away from there,” the President added.