Last Tuesday President Duterte signed a memorandum ordering the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to take the lead in the antidrug campaign. The Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the military, the Bureau of Customs and other “ad hoc drug task force” agencies now have to defer to the PDEA in the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations, as per the order.
Critics say merely changing the lead implementer of the government’s anti-drug campaign is not enough. They are right. Certainly, the onus is not on the government alone.
Efforts on public awareness, mass education and grassroots advocacy against the use of illegal drugs may have curbed the demand for them. The President’s campaign may have resulted in the arrests, prosecution and the death of some local drug dealers. However, these have not really deterred international drug traffickers from using the Philippines as a major transit point for their drug shipments. We have many large ports, many islands and unguarded waters where drugs can be imported and exported quite easily. In some cases, the drug shipments slip through Customs and other so-called official channels, like the recent P6.4 billion worth of smuggled shabu from China.
With billions in profits involved, drug trafficking and dealing will always be perceived as well worth the risks by criminal elements.
As far as law enforcement is concerned, even with PDEA as lead implementer, it still needs the police and other agencies. As of March 2017, the PDEA has only 1,274 agents, certainly not enough to mount an effective campaign.
The President also needs to support the incorruptible in our police force and justice system so they will not shirk from asserting their authority to arrest, prosecute and sentence drug dealers. It bears repeating: Arrest, prosecute and sentence. Not just kill.
Those policemen untouched by the temptations of the drug trade, in particular, deserve to know that their hard work in arresting drug dealers would lead to obtaining convictions; that they will result in the incarceration of the offenders. This is an incentive against merely disposing of these scalawags through extrajudicial means on the premise that, in the end, they will get off scot-free anyway.
There are bad eggs in the antidrug agencies and in the courts. This makes it all the more important for honest policemen and prosecutors to be supported. A lot of times, policemen are blamed for not doing enough and even conniving with drug dealers. When the honest cops in the force do something, they deserve support, especially from the justice system. There must be a collaborative effort among the PDEA and other law-enforcement agencies and the courts to be successful against illegal drugs.
However, these are the realities in the antidrug war. We know that our institutions are not as strong. Our justice system is not as incorruptible. That, perhaps because of poverty or the wrong value system, more people, especially young people, are lured by the immediate and huge profits promised by the illegal-drugs trade. We know that most drug dealers are getting some sort of backing and support from accomplices in the government, be it at the law-enforcement level, the justice system or even from certain local or national officials. This explains their rather resilient spirit to continue their illicit trade. These factors have all weakened the antidrug campaign. This is why we also need the non-governmental organizations and civil-society groups, the media, the private sector and our citizens to help devise a more effective tool in the antidrug war.
Civil society and the media must help in value reorientation and public awareness, which entails instilling moral discipline and a culture of living a healthy and drug-free life. We can only win the antidrug war if our young people are committed to being free of drugs. We need to change attitudes and help reorient young people who may be attracted by the drug business because of the huge money involved.
The role of barangays and citizens themselves to fight the social malaise and build a drug-free nation cannot be overemphasized. We need to create more awareness at all levels in order to discourage illegal-drugs use and its trade. While law enforcement and prosecution will go a long way, it is fundamental to have an antidrugs culture in our society, to make drug use taboo or an object of abomination.