Drug war a dark stain on Duterte’s leadership — and on all Filipinos

Vice President Leni Robredo was being too nice when she said that the drug war needs to be reassessed. In fact, it has been a failure.

Back in 2016, I, along with many, was surprised to find out how many Filipinos were illegal drug users. I recall that half a million registered with the police to admit using drugs even before President Duterte assumed office. Many seemed to want help with their problem.

But his efforts have been a failure. He boasted that he would clean up the drug problem in three months, and now admits that it will take his entire six-year term. Looking back, the administration jumped to conclusions, and used wrong methods to deal with the problem. For instance:

1) Our prison system wasn’t ready for it. According to an Inquirer editorial citing the World Prison Brief, we have the most overcrowded jails in the world. On the average, 40 men are crammed into a space meant for 10.

2) We have a judicial system that is constipated, cannot move the additional drug cases along. Criminal litigation can take forever. Those who are denied bail because they have a drug charge are jailed in eternal purgatory. The Ampatuan massacre trial, after 10 long years, has yet to be resolved!

3) So many policemen are corrupt. How can the police, the guardians of morality and law in the nation, enforce the laws when they themselves are the suspects?

4) The best way to solve a problem is to go to the source, but this hasn’t happened. Five thousand small-time suspects have been killed “resisting arrest,” while over 3,000 have been killed by paid assassins. Over 200,000 have been arrested for drug abuse. Yet few big-time drug lords have been brought to justice, and the police admit they are having a hard time arresting them.

5) We now live in the world’s fourth most dangerous nation, according to The Guardian newspaper. Yet unlike the other countries on the list, we don’t even have a civil war. And now our state-sponsored murders are being investigated by the United Nations, an embarrassing statement to a nation that was the leader in democracy in Southeast Asia.

6) No drug abuse study was done prior to the war on drugs. Yet other nations have statistics. The online journal Inside Indonesia indicates there are 850,000 Indonesian “shabu” users, and they smoke the substance six times a month on average. Less than 10 percent are considered problematic users. Are we different? What are the statistics here? The antidrug government agency says 1.8 million Filipinos are addicts, while the President claims 8 million. These figures must have been pulled out of thin air. Yet, if a study is done now, anyone who admits that they use drugs would be a fool, as they are likely to be shot!

7) Rehabilitation centers were not in place to deal with the thousands who admitted they were addicts. How can society help them overcome their problem if there is no place to help them?

Instead of dealing sanely with drug dependents, the administration of President Duterte locked them up in overcrowded jails or shot them like they were zombies. And now, three years after the start of the drug war, the question remains: Are we better off? There are many things to like about the administration, but the drug war will remain a dark stain on Mr. Duterte, on his allies and on all Filipinos.

JONATHAN FOE,
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