WHEN he was in Washington last week President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. admitted that abuses were committed in the war on drugs waged by Rodrigo Duterte.
The President said that “what had happened during the previous administration is that we focused very much on enforcement. And because of that, it could be said that there were abuses by certain elements of the government that has caused some concern in many quarters about the human rights situation in the Philippines.”
Marcos added that “syndicates have grown stronger and wealthier and more influential.”
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That admission is an indictment of the vaunted war on drugs.
During his campaign Rodrigo Duterte famously vowed to stop criminality within three months from assuming office. He said he would happily resign should he fail to do so.
Before an Ilocano crowd, Duterte boldly proclaimed that “if elected President, give me about three to six months, I will get rid of corruption, drugs and criminality.”
He said he would allow then vice-presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos to take over the reins of government should he fail on his promise.
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Fast forward to April 2022, as he was about to relinquish power, Duterte admitted that he was mistaken in his boast that he could end the illegal drug trade in the country in three to six months from assuming office.
Duterte blamed it on vicissitudes of the political campaign. He said, “maybe it was campaign time. Payabangan na naman ng kampanya.” He gave the flimsiest of excuses, claiming that rich drug users are difficult to catch because they live in mansions secured by guards.
Do political promises qualify as dealer’s or trader’s talk that can be treated as mere exaggeration or puffery, for which a candidate may not be held to account?
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Two things are fast forming on the horizon. President Marcos is veering away from the twin directions that the Duterte administration had been notable for: the pivot to China and the violent drug war.
The drug war is fast losing traction, especially on the heels of massive drug hauls involving ninja cops.
Poor people had been dropping like flies for drug busts involving less than a gram of methamphetamine. In contrast, ninja cops had been sitting on stockpiles of shabu with the street value of four times the annual budget of a poor province like Antique.
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Regardless of whether the allegations against them were true or false, politicians on the Duterte drug list suffered unlamented deaths because of their alleged involvement in the drug trade.
Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, was gunned down at a police checkpoint in October 2016.
Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte was shot dead inside his detention cell at the provincial jail in November 2016.
Vice Mayor Anwar Sindatuk also of Datu Saudi Ampatuan was gunned down inside his house by unidentified assassins also in November 2016.
At least 25 municipal-level elected officials were assassinated during Duterte’s term.
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The drug war was thus successful in instilling fear among fair-weathered politicians.
Local honchos stood haplessly by as the police and purported vigilante groups raided the shanties and congregations of urban blight.
The Senate itself, a bastion of democracy, conspired to disenfranchise Leila de Lima, one of their own, as she set laid the evidentiary bricks that would form the foundation to an international investigation.
In the meantime, while the police publicly lopped off a few tumors here and there, the cancer of illegal drugs continues to grow, prompting Marcos to reboot: “We start with the errant policemen, then we go back to the rehabilitation process for those who have unfortunately fallen into this addiction cycle.”/PN
