Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that while the return of the Philippine National Police as lead enforcer of the administration’s war against drugs is not yet final, President Rodrigo Duterte is seriously thinking about it.
It has been reported that the President is not happy about how the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is going about the war, primarily because it only has about 2,000 personnel nationwide, and the job is tremendous. This makes me think that the President wants more killings!
The prospects of the President’s bloody war on drugs raises questions like, will this mean a revival of Oplan Tokhang where cops raided poor communities and shot drug suspects who they claim put up a fight?
This prospect has sent chills down the spine of many observers and the public as a whole. It would seem that the killing spree enjoys the go-ahead of the President.
On the first day of the oral arguments for the petition to declare as illegal the war on drugs, two Supreme Court justices—Antonio Carpio and Marvic Leonen—said the war was illegal indeed. Cops forced their way to poor communities without a warrant. They also violated privacy and coerced the drug suspects—a violation of the Anti-Torture Act.
These observations do not constitute the final decision of the Supreme Court, but we can already see the thinking of the justices in connection with Tokhang!
With the police again in charge of the campaign against illegal drugs, will we see a killing spree again? Even the President has said the police is rotten to the core. So why is he doing this again?
I can understand the President’s frustration. Initially he promised to end the drug menace between three and six months. And then he asked for an extension. Now he is on his second year in office and the war does not appear as though it would end soon.
As I have been saying all along, so long as there is demand for illegal drugs, the supply will always find a way to get into our shores. This is made easier by the corruption at the Bureau of Customs.
I have for so long been suggesting to the President to make rehabilitation a priority. There are 3 million to 4 million drug users nationwide.
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The President’s proclamation to finally cancel the peace talks with the communists means that Mr. Duterte has finally realized that the Reds do not really want peace. What they want is a so-called coalition government.
I have been saying all along that the communists speak with a forked tongue. While they talk peace with the government abroad, here the New People’s Army continues to attack government forces.
It’s a matter of sincerity, really.
The bottom line is that they are enemies of the state. They are rebels and terrorists.
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House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is pushing a bill that removes from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation its 36 nationwide casinos. It will only have regulatory powers. I say it’s about time.
But I smell danger when Alvarez said he wanted the licensing powers of Pagcor to be given to Congress. Members of the House of Representatives will just have another opportunity to commit anomalies. Why make Dracula the manager of the blood bank? It’s a recipe for corruption!
Yes, there is a need to privatize Pagcor’s 36 casinos. But what the Speaker has in mind is dangerous. This has to be stopped.
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I have a suggestion for spokesman Harry Roque. If he really wants to feel the public pulse , he should take the train during rush hour, every day, for at least a week.
The irony is that the Transportation Department keeps telling us the MRT is safe.