Drug war success: Shabu prices up

MANILA, Philippines - The Duterte administration is winning the war on drugs as evidenced by the price of shabu having gone up from P3,000 to P25,000 per gram due to scarcity of supply, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said on Friday.

Dela Rosa said the supply and demand for shabu have a direct effect on its price.

“During the first 100 days in office of President Duterte, I can say we are winning the campaign against illegal drugs,” he said in a television interview.

The PNP chief said the supply of shabu in the market has been reduced by 70 to 80 percent and the price of shabu sold by street level pushers continued to rise.

In the past, authorities said a kilo of shabu cost P5 million. But based on Dela Rosa’s assessment, a kilo of shabu is currently valued at P25 million.

He said 1,523 drug personalities have been killed in legitimate police operations since the PNP launched Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel in July.

He said the anti-drug campaign also resulted in the surrender of 732,000 people and arrest of 22,000 others.

Dela Rosa admitted that the PNP is investigating 2,000 deaths of suspected drug users and pushers.

Of this number, he said the PNP has so far investigated 500 cases, solved 200 deaths while 300 cases have been filed against suspects who remain at-large.

Various groups have criticized the government as bodies of drug suspects continued to pile up in the streets.

Dela Rosa, however, said he is opposed to vigilante killings of drug personalities.

Dela Rosa described the government’s drug war as challenging as he appealed for sustained public support for police to knock out the menace.

“It’s challenging. We need the support of the public in the campaign against illegal drugs. We cannot succeed without your help,” he said.

He said the drug war would continue until all barangays in the country are drug-free and government officials on drug watchlists are punished.

With the active participation of the citizenry, Dela Rosa expressed confidence that the PNP would be able to knock out the drug menace in one year.

Extrajudicial killings

Former National Security adviser Jose Almonte has cautioned the Duterte administration from creating conditions where justice would be defined by vengeance amid the bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

Almonte said the government’s drug war should shift to education and rehabilitation phase.

He said the President should gather public support, especially from those “who expressed misgivings and opposition to the government’s anti-drug thrust both here and abroad.”

“The Duterte government has been in office for only three months but has been getting criticism because of extrajudicial killings,” Almonte said during a roundtable discussion on identifying the national interests of the Philippines at Malacañang on Wednesday.

“Beyond the legitimate concerns about extrajudicial killings, the Duterte government has initiated a radical national reform program. If it turns out successful, it will make the nation great,” he added.

Almonte said if the President’s malasakit at pagbabago (concern and change) approach to governance would triumph, it would “lay the foundation for the formation of a new Filipino personality and identity and build a strong and respected nation.”

“This will be the foundation of our internal strength – the bedrock of an independent foreign policy, which is neither for nor against anybody but equidistant to everyone,” Almonte pointed out.

He advised the Duterte administration to handle its campaign against illegal drugs carefully.

For his part, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pushed for the creation of a task force to speed up the probe on extrajudicial killings.

Gatchalian, who spoke at the meeting of the Negros Association of Chief Executives in Bacolod City on Friday, admitted that the drug-related killings create a negative perception about the Philippines.

While the Duterte administration is winning in the campaign against crime and drugs, Gatchalian said an improved foreign policy is needed and action should be taken against extrajudicial killings. – With Giovanni Nilles, Gilbert Bayoran