Govt should suspend war on illegal drugs until House quad hearings are over

First word

TO avert further distrust of institutions and to rebuild coherence and public confidence in all drug policies and programs, I believe the nation — both the government and the public — will benefit from a brief suspension (moratorium) of the war on drugs until the ongoing House quad committee (quadcomm) hearings on extrajudicial killings (EJKS) and illegal drugs, and POGOs are concluded.

Need for moratorium

A moratorium or suspension of activity will allow for a critical and serious review of the drug war and its record, both bad and good, and a determination of the real national drug situation and the threats, real and imagined, to society and the people.

A break is necessary because of two significant and unusual developments.

First, a starting reversal of roles in the war on drugs has taken place, wherein the onetime designated perpetrators and the organized crime lord in the drug trade and the one-time anti-drug crusaders, law enforcers and crime fighters appear to have switched roles in the national drug situation. Today, incredibly, the champions of the drug war — the drug interdicters, law enforcers and their commanders have become the villains, victimizers and chief criminal suspects, and the drug lords, drug traffickers and drug users have become the victims, “the quick and the dead.”

Second, the quad hearings have unwittingly mutated into an autopsy of the Rodrigo Duterte presidency. This trajectory requires reflection and study lest partisanship prevents any hope of a national consensus to help in the writing of history.

PH drug war

Counting from July 2018, the Philippine drug war has now been going on for eight years, two months and 15 days.

Strangely, the House of Representatives did not begin its inquiry into the drug war without a briefing or fact sheet from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to give the nation an idea of ​​where we are in this ongoing conflict, the relationship of forces and the casualties statistics. It offered no perspective on the national drug situation that impelled the government to declare war.

Wikipedia did a much better job of providing perspective on the drug war. It wrote in summary:

“The Philippine drug war, known as the war on drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign that began during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who served in office from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced drug proliferation in the country, but has been marred by extrajudicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assassins. By 2022, it is estimated by human rights organizations that more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in ‘anti-drug operations’ carried out by the government and its supporters.

“Prior to his presidency, Duterte cautioned that the Philippines was at risk of becoming a narco-state and vowed the fight against illegal drugs would be relentless. He urged the public to kill drug addicts. The anti-narcotics campaign has been condemned by media organizations and human rights groups, which reported staged crime scenes where police allegedly execute unarmed drug suspects, planting guns and drugs as evidence. Philippine authorities have denied misconduct by police.

“Duterte has since admitted to underestimating the illegal drug problem when he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs within six months of his presidency, citing the difficulty in border control against illegal drugs due to the country’s long coastline and lamented that government officials and law enforcers themselves were involved in the drug trade.”

Need for new approach

A new approach to the national illegal drug situation is imperative with the perplexing turn of events and reversal of role in the high-profile war on drugs that has emerged from the ongoing hearings of the House quadcomm in Congress.

What should be the government’s drug policy in a problem situation where the roles of criminal suspects and crime avengers are turned upside down, and the finger of guilt and suspicion points instead at the avenger and leader who is most vociferous and obsessed in extirpating illegal drugs in the country?

This is the unpleasant reality that confronts the nation as a result of the continuing hearings of the House quadcom.

During the six-year term of President Duterte (2016-2022), no policy and program was more characteristic of the man than his proclamation of the war on drugs and the relentless implementation of the policy by the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

But based on the testimony of several witnesses and resource persons presented at the quad hearings, it turns out that as many crimes were being perpetrated by law enforcers and government officials as those that were heaped on the people and society by the illegal drug trade.

The witnesses marshaled by the quad committee include no less than officers and commanders who issued orders in the drug campaign, hitmen and guns for hire who were handsomely paid by the government to liquidate three Chinese drug lords at the Davao Penal Colony. President Duterte, no less, was pointed to as the principal source of the order to kill.

As the hearings turned to their other hot topic, the illegal entry of online gaming casinos into the country, the House unearthed information that President Duterte illegally legislated on his own, through an executive order, the existence of the POGOs, and that he was assisted by key figures in his administration and some of his political allies.

With the unmasking of high officials in government, including Sens. Ronald de la Rosa and Bong Go, as accomplices in the misconduct of the Duterte presidency, the quadcomm hearings are beginning to look like an autopsy of the Rodrigo Duterte presidency.

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