#Addictspamore

Anything used in excess and unusual high amounts and frequently can best define what addiction is. The closest synonyms for addiction – dependence, craving, habit – could very well describe an afflicted person. Whenever though addiction is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is illegal drugs.

While still on the campaign trail during last year’s presidential election, former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte vowed to eradicate, if not totally wipe out, the illegal drugs problem of the country in six months time. Little did he knew, the drug addiction problem in the Philippines can not be solved in such a short period of time given the present realities he found himself in.

When he first took office at Malacanang Palace, President Duterte assumed the illegal drugs problem in the country must have swelled by about 4 million as of present times. President Duterte extrapolated this number using the base figure of 1.8 million Filipinos as reportedly hooked into illegal drugs by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) a decade ago.

In the conduct of the administration’s war against illegal drugs, the Philippine National Police (PNP) launched its “Tokhang” campaign where as many as 7,000 drug personalities were reported killed. Half of this number was classified as deaths under investigation amid allegations they were victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

Reeling from EJK accusations, it did not deter President Duterte from pressing on his war against illegal drugs. The President made public in the past some of the names of elected government officials from Congress to the judiciary and even military and policemen in his folder-full of “narco list” personalities.

This folder of “narco list” has even become a favorite prop that President Duterte brandishes at every opportunity  in his extemporaneous speeches. To date, however, the President has not made a full disclosure of this “narco list.”    

The controversial “narco list” though has not made any public appearances lately.

President Duterte, however, continues to have a running discourse against UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard also at every opportunity he gets to talk about drug addiction problem in the Philippines. The President’s consistently argues that “shabu” addiction damages the users’ brains publicly contrary to the claims of Callamard and other human rights advocates.

The country’s problem on drug addiction took a newest twist following the May 22 siege by Maute bandits in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur. President Duterte traced what he calls as the “shabu infestation” in the Philippines as having prospered in Mindanao where drug lords enticed the Maute and Abu Sayyaf bandits into the lucrative illegal drugs trade.  

Taking advantage of the porous borders of southern Philippines, the President pointed to unnamed drug lords and the Muslim extremist groups as having forged their unholy alliance on illegal drugs trade.

The President’s latest disclosure of drug links of Muslim extremists groups gained credence when government troopers stumbled into more than P52.2 million in cash and P23 million worth of drawn checks. Three days into clearing operations, government troopers reportedly recovered also shabu paraphernalias in many of the Maute hideouts in Marawi City.

The President’s imposition of martial law all over Mindanao since the Marawi siege started has enabled him to use his powers as Commander-in-chief to deploy the entire Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to also engage in his administration’s war against illegal drugs.

Amid the war against drug addiction, we were startled last week when yet another kind of addiction shocked all of us in disbelief.

As it is turning out, Jessie Javier Carlos – the gunman in the Resorts World Manila (RWM) attack where 38 people were killed including the assailant himself and wounded 53 others last Friday – was also an addict of a different nature. Carlos was found to be a “casino addict” who lost not only his personal fortunes but his family as well.

Two months before he went berserk, Carlos was barred by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) from playing at any casinos around the country being operated under its franchise. The RWM is among those operating casinos under Pagcor franchise.

According to Pagcor chairperson Andrea Domingo, she issued “Player Exclusion Order” against Carlos effective from March 27, 2017 to March 26, 2018. Upon the request of his family, the name of Carlos was thus included in Pagcor’s National Database of Restricted Persons (NDRP).

The NDRP is an online list developed by Pagcor that is accessible to licensed casinos and major operators of electronic gambling. Exclusion orders are filed by family members of the concerned gamblers and, in some cases, the gamblers themselves who opt for self-exclusion.

Based from internal investigation of Pagcor, Domingo noted Carlos was known in the casino as “high roller” (high-stakes gambler). With P40,000 as his lowest amount of bet, Carlos reportedly had lost as much as P6 million in just one night.

 The family exclusion application form filed by the gunman’s estranged wife Maria Angelita last March 15 was made public last Sunday. The Pagcor exclusion order against Carlos came to light two days after the investigators of the PNP was able to establish the identity of the RWM gunman who burned himself at the end of his rampage.

Police probers discovered Carlos was a dismissed employee of the Department of Finance after the Office of the Ombudsman found him liable for violation of the law on submission of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN). As a result of his deleterious gambling habit, Carlos sold many of his properties and eventually separated from his wife and three children.

Thus, it was a no-brainer why the widow of Carlos took it upon herself to had him barred from playing in casinos. She thought it would help her husband to control his gambling addiction. It had a tragic end though that cost the lives of 38 innocent people.

The tragedy prompted Pagcor announcement about casinos having psychiatric clinics to assist potential gambling addicts. And Pagcor set up a 24/7 hotline to assist those who wish to be rehabilitated from their gambling problems.

 There are reportedly some 450 casino #addictspamore like Carlos who are in Pagcor’s watch list. Anyone of them could be a potential crazed gunman like him.