MANILA – While it is being condemned worldwide, President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs” has drawn praise from the visiting Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena.
In his toast during a state banquet in Malacañang, Sirisena said the administration’s antidrug program was a personal example to him that he replicated it in his country.
“Excellency, the war against crime and drugs carried out by you is an example to the whole world, and personally to me. Drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard,” Sirisena said.
In July last year, Sirisena announced that it will replicate the success of Duterte’s war on drugs to his country as he “was ready to sign the death warrants by hanging” of repeat drug offenders.
“From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” Sirisena said then. “We were told that the Philippines has been successful in deploying the army and dealing with this problem. We will try to replicate their success.”
The war on drugs was part of the campaign promise of President Duterte when he run for Presidency in 2016.
He recently ordered all government agencies to take an “active role” in his antidrug campaign.
In Memorandum Circular 53 released recently, all government offices, agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations and state universities and colleges must “immediately mobilize their assets and take an active role in the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.”
Official police data put the death toll from drug operations at a little over 5,000, but human rights groups say this figure is significantly lower than the actual number of killings./PN
