President Rodrigo Duterte is still frustrated by the continued entry of illegal drugs, the Palace said Thursday.
Despite the government’s relentless efforts in continuing the war on drugs, the President remains exasperated by their proliferation, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
“The President is frustrated because it [drugs] keeps on entering [the country]. It’s like the bastards aren’t discouraged at all. In a way, that’s the President’s point,” Panelo said in a radio interview with dzMM.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has seized at least P2.8 billion worth of illegal drugs and P1.8 billion worth of shabu in separate anti-narcotics operations in Metro Manila alone. The Philippine Coast Guard also intercepted cocaine bricks alleged worth millions of pesos floating in the coastal waters of Catanduanes.
With the rise of intercepted drugs, Duterte last week admitted the country’s drug menace has worsened, with policemen “on the brink of surrendering.”
In a speech during the campaign rally of ruling PDP-Laban party in Malabon City, the President, who vowed to eradicate the drug problem in three to six months, said his crackdown against illegal drugs has “failed,” adding he cannot control it.
“It’s swallowing the country. You can read it every day, even in the crawler of the TV networks. There are billions worth of drugs. Before, there were only thousands. I cannot control those drugs, son of a b****h. Even if I ordered the deaths of these idiots, drugs remain, still intensifying,” Duterte said Tuesday evening.
“The other officials are asking: Is it successful? Now, I tell you it’s not [successful] because it’s happening worldwide. Drugs are a worldwide problem now even China, Taiwan, and others are also affected,” he added.
The President said errant local police officials contribute to the reasons why his government is having a hard time stopping the drug problem.
He said some cops, who are allegedly linked in the narcotics trade, were causing the drug war to fail and vowed to release a list of policemen tagged in the narcotics trade.
“I will reveal these documents tomorrow. [Documents showing] how these policemen, and the police officials, play with illegal drugs, and why the drug problem is never-ending,” Duterte said, adding that policemen are making a mockery of the people by involving themselves with drugs.
He also slammed previous claims that he pays additional money to police officers to kill drug suspects.
Duterte previously warned that Sinaloa, Medellin cartel, and the Golden Triangle drug syndicates have entered the country.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, said it is best for the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to reopen its investigation into the illicit drug trade linking presidential son, resigned Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Mars Carpio to illegal drugs.
He said this is needed to clear the names of the President’s son and Carpio, husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, after a video linking him to illegal drugs began circulating on the internet.
“To me, the blue ribbon investigation will give Mr. Duterte [the chance] to explain and dispute the allegations,” Drilon said.
If not, he said the video will keep going around the social media and there is no opportunity for Duterte to disprove the allegations.
The younger Duterte said he believed the President’s most vocal critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, was behind the video but offered no evidence to support his belief.
The Palace on Thursday shrugged off the video, saying it was mere black propaganda.
On Tuesday afternoon, Facebook page “Metro Balita,” posted a six-minute video showing a list of alleged drug lords and the kickbacks deposited in their bank accounts.
During the video, a male narrator, who identified himself as alias “Bikoy,” said that codenames “Polo Delta-TSG01” and “Alpha Tierra-0029” top the list. According to the narrator on the video, Polo Delta refers to Paolo.
The video also mentioned the supposed drug links of Waldo Carpio as Duterte’s alleged “dummy” in illegal transactions. Carpio is the brother of lawyer Manases Carpio, Paolo’s brother-in-law and husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Also on Thursday, Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde said the PNP was ready to investigate police officers tagged by the President as being involved in illegal drugs.
But interviewed on GMA-7, Albayalde said the PNP has not received any documents yet from the President. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
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