DESPITE a government report that identified China as the country’s biggest source of methamphetamine, President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday denied that the Chinese were exporting shabu to the Philippines.
“It’s not a matter of exporting,” the President said, adding that Chinese suppliers were dumping the illegal drugs into the sea, where they were being retrieved by Filipino drug suppliers for distribution in the Philippines.
Duterte also said that during his discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit, he learned that China had a growing shabu problem similar to that of the Philippines.
During that visit, Duterte announced his “separation” from the United States and declared that he had realigned with China.
The pivot to Beijing has bewildered some Philippine drug-control officials, who said that China’s leaders have provided little help over the years in stemming the flow of drugs into the Philippines.
A report said that methamphetamine production experts are flown into the Philippines from China by drug syndicates to work in drug labs.
Between January 2015 and mid-August 2016, 77 foreign nationals were arrested in the Philippines over shabu-related offenses and nearly two thirds of those arrested were Chinese nationals.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Derrick Carreon said that China was the biggest source of shabu and of the precursor chemicals used to produce the synthetic drug.
Over the weekend, Duterte repeated claims that he killed suspected criminals as he vowed no let-up in his war on drugs that has already claimed thousands of lives.
In an hour-long speech earlier to Filipinos in Singapore, Duterte referred to international news coverage of his claims this week that in his previous role as mayor of Davao City, he killed suspects to set an example for police.
“To spare you embarrassment about the crawlers on television that have been running on CNN and even the BBC says Duterte admits killing or shooting the criminals: they were not mistaken,” he said.
People in the 6,500-strong crowd cheered as Duterte used his trademark strong language to promise his drug war would continue.
“Sons of whores I will really kill these idiots,” he said.
“My campaign on drugs will not end, until the end of my term six years from now when every drug pusher is [killed],” Duterte said, making a throat-cutting gesture.