The recent raid on a suspected shabu laboratory inside the exclusive Greenhills Subdivision in San Juan City tells us how drug lords have become even more brazen with their illegal trade, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody all-out war on illegal drugs. The police raiding team seized P204 milion worth of chemicals and equipment that could produce up to 30 kilos of shabu per week.
The recent raid on a suspected shabu laboratory inside the exclusive Greenhills Subdivision in San Juan City tells us how drug lords have become even more brazen with their illegal trade, despite President Duterte’s bloody all-out war on illegal drugs. The police raiding team seized P204 milion worth of chemicals and equipment that could produce up to 30 kilos of shabu per week.
With the debilitating effect of every gram of shabu on users, imagine how many young Filipino lives would be wasted if this shabu laboratory was not discovered. How long could this shabu laboratory been operating? This is just one of the questions hounding us after the reported discovery of this shabu laboratory in Greenhills.
This is the reason why, as chairman of the Federation of Philippine Indstries (FPI), we support the President’s all-out war on drugs.
The country’s drug problem cannot be solved with kid gloves. It needs a strong and determined hand to address this social ill, like what Duterte is doing. And most important, the President’s campaign against illegal drugs needs public support and understanding for it to fully succeed. And this is also the reason why, on a personal note, I chose to express my support for the President’s all-out war on drugs.
And for my thoughts on how to help save the country and its youth from the crippling effects of methamphetamine, and also to help secure our homes and streets from drug-crazed criminals, let me share my ideas on how we can help keep our streets drug-free.
I agree with the idea of making drug testing a mandatory requirement at the workplace and schools. So long as the cost for testing will not be charged to the employee or student, I see nothing wrong with the procedure, unless one is a user, especially the habitual user.
Personally, I don’t see it as an intrusion on one’s privacy but a measure to ensure that the person sitting next to you at your workplace or at school is not a drug user or a drug dependent.
I recall my grade school years when we were all required to undergo a screening test for tuberculosis. TB at that time was a deadly disease that reached epidemic levels. And since the procedure was actually part of the measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus, all the parents consented to the procedure.
I am, therefore, surprised why critics of the government’s anti-drug campaign are against the mandatory drug testing for school chidren and at the workplace. Most if not all of them claim anyway that drug users are sick people who need professional help.
And on the same premise as the TB screening procedure, which is to contain the spread of the deadly virus, I am bewildered why some critics of the government’s anti-drug campaign are against the mandatory drug testing at schools and at the workplace, unless they want this medical or social ill to grow to uncontrollable levels.
I am also urging the officials of barangays and homeowners associations, especially those in the exclusive enclaves of the rich, to closely monitor the activities of the homes in their jurisdiction, and to allow inspections whenever necessary, in accordance, of course, with the procedures allowed by law.
What the President’s war on drugs need today is public support and understanding. I know the issue is sensitive and controversial. And unless one has been a victim of a drug-related crime, or at least a loved one, understanding the President’s war on drugs could be difficult.
I personally believe that this is what the country needs today, a firm and determined leader to ensure the success of an all-out war on drugs. President Duterte is that kind of a leader. In my lifetime, I have never seen a President who is ready to accept whatever fate that would fall on him just to see his anti-drugs campaign succeed. The President is determined to save the Filipino nation from the ill effects of illegal drugs.