‘Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines a massive failure’

By Helen Flores, The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — With a score of just one percent, the Duterte administration’s war on drugs is a “massive failure,” Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.

This is the gist of Robredo’s 40-page report on her 18-day stint as co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), which she made public yesterday.

Robredo said the failure was due to law enforcers focusing on neutralizing low-level pushers rather than cutting main sources of supply.

She said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was able to seize only one percent of the total methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu supply in the past three years.

“If you liken it to an exam, the government’s score is one out of 100,” Robredo said at a press conference.

“(The drug war) is really a failure. The campaign against illegal drugs has many aspects, but almost the entire funds were poured into neutralizing small-time pushers and users. They forgot to look into the aspect on where the bulk of drugs that victimize the youth and our citizens are coming from,” she added.

Citing data from the Philippine National Police-Drug Enforcement Group, the Vice President said approximately 3,000 kilograms of shabu worth P25 billion are consumed per week, but the PDEA was only able to haul in 1,344.87 kilograms last year.

She added that the figures were even lower in 2017 and 2018 at 1,053.91 kilograms and 785.31 kilograms, respectively.