PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday instructed different law enforcement agencies to sustain the peaceful and “bloodless war” against illegal drugs.
The President issued the directive when he inspected the drugs seized by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at its headquarters in Quezon City, which include the shabu discovered by fishermen off the coast of Luzon, and assorted dangerous drugs seized from various anti-drug operations.
“I continue to encourage all the Drug Board authorities, the PDEA authorities, and of course, the police that we must continue with the war against drugs. But we keep it in a peaceful, we do it in a peaceful way,” he said.
“It has been described as a bloodless war on drugs. And this is what we are aiming for. But nonetheless, despite the fact that we do not kill people who are just suspected of having anything to do with drugs, instead of doing that, we are handling the drug problem in a different way,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.
Marcos said under his administration’s “new concept of the war against drugs,” government forces should not focus only on big syndicates but also on small operators, including those who are peddling on the streets.
He said no one would feel safe on the streets if even the small-time drug sellers were present.
The President said aside from the “high police presence at the lowest level,” the government is also strengthening the drug prevention and rehabilitation program
“[We are beginning to see some measure of success. Kaya ipapagpatuloy natin ito (So, we will carry on with it),” Marcos said.
He said the government is set to destroy in Capas, Tarlac today, Wednesday, the 1,304.604 kilograms of shabu with an estimated street value of P8.8 billion that were found floating in the waters off the provinces of Zambales, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and Cagayan in the past weeks.
Apart from the shabu, another 226.043 kgs of assorted dangerous drugs, worth about P609 million, intercepted during separate operations are also scheduled for destruction under court orders.
The President urged the public, including the media, to witness the testing and destruction of the contrabands through thermal decomposition.
Marcos said it is important to immediately destroy the illegal substance to ensure that it will not return to the streets.
He also lauded the fishermen who discovered and turned over the “floating drugs” to authorities, along with the police and PDEA, for their efforts and successful operations.
He said many Filipinos, especially the youth, had been spared and saved from becoming addicts, from dying of overdose and getting their lives destroyed due to the illegal substance.
CHINESE MARKINGS
The Philippine Navy yesterday said the Chinese might be involved in the shipment of 1.5 tons of shabu worth P10 billion that was intercepted by two Navy patrol vessels last Friday in the West Philippine Sea.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Navy’s spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said the packs containing shabu had markings that appeared to be Chinese.
“It appears that, it is not far-fetched that this be another effort of the Chinese Communist Party to destroy the future generation of Filipinos by flooding our country with illicit drugs,” said Trinidad.
The shabu shipment was intercepted by the Navy last Friday morning off Zambales on board a Filipino fishing boat. Apprehended were a Chinese-Malaysian and four Filipinos.
The Navy said the shabu, which is now under the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, was transferred to the fishing boat by a larger vessel.
“It is not far-fetched that this is an effort of the Chinese Communist Party,” Trinidad said, referring to the intercepted shabu shipment.
As to the purpose of the Chinese in shipping the shabu to the Philippines, Trinidad this is meant “to undermine the future of Filipinos, to destroy the future of another country.”
“They’re dumping illicit drugs to destroy the minds of the future generation. It’s not far-fetched that they are doing this to us,” Trinidad said.
Police seized P119,612 worth of suspected dangerous drugs and arrested two men in a buy-bust operation in Binangonan, Rizal yesterday.
Col. Felipe Maraggun, Rizal provincial police office (PPO) director, identified the suspects as alias Lolong and JV, of legal age and residents of Mabuhay Homes, Barangay Darangan, Binangonan, Rizal.
Seized from them were six sachets containing more or less 17.59 grams of suspected shabu. – With Victor Reyes and Christian Oineza
