President Rodrigo Duterte (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte said there will be no stopping of the anti-drug war momentum amid criticisms that the drug campaign in the country has resulted to an escalating number extrajudicial killings of alleged drug-related personalities.
During the oath-taking of the new members of his Cabinet in Malacañang on Monday, August 15, Duterte said he will not stop until he has “destroyed the apparatus” of the drug industry.
“I might, lalabas ako dito, medyo kontrabida or with stained hands, maybe soaked with blood, but there is no way to stop it now. There can be no stopping of the momentum until I have destroyed the apparatus,” Duterte said.
(I might, appear the villain or with stained hands, maybe soaked with blood, but there is now way to stop it now. There can be no stopping of the momentum until I have destroyed the apparatus.)
He said sometimes the Philippines are used as a place for the transshipment of illegal drugs where drugs are produced in international waters and are dropped in the country “with (global positioning system)”.
Duterte said the drug operation uses “a big map, digital, real time.”
“And they can zoom in even in smallest barangay. All you have to do is direct their operation, you drop it there, get your money,” he said.
Big fish, small fish
He said small-time peddlers in the side-walks are part of the drug apparatus together with the “lieutenants”.
“Until I shall have destroyed them, we can never, never have peace in our land,” Duterte said.
He also said that he cannot accept the excuse that the poor are targeted in the fight against drugs.
“It’s not the matter of sabihin mong, mahirap lang yan… (It’s not the matter of saying, those are poor…) that cannot be the excuse. Simply, I will not accept it because it would add more problems if you accept the theory,” he said.
He said the “big fish controlling the flow” of the drug operation have “no faces” but only names, which are aliases.
“Hinahanap kasi nila sa akin where’s the big fish? Saan yung mga bilyonaryo? Well, there aint any (They ask me where’s the big fish? Where are the billionaires? Well, there ain’t any),” Duterte said.
He said even if he shows the public of the matrix they have, there are “five blank frames, but no faces, only names, of course they are aliases,” he said.
Duterte also said that he has warned some ambassadors on the alleged connection of their citizens in the illegal drugs trade in the Philippines. The President did not name any country, but said that he has already spoke to the ambassadors on the issue.
“I would not want to elaborate on it because it might ruffle the feathers of some nations. Alam nila ito and I have, for several times, warned their ambassadors, ‘you know, a lot of your citizens are destroying our country’. At hindi ko yan papalusutin (They know this and I have, for several times, warned their ambassadors “you know, a lot of your citizens are destroying our country”. And I will not allow it),” Duterte said.
Communists withdraws support in Duterte’s ‘drug war’
The Communist Party of the Philippines recently withdrew its support to the government’s anti-drug campaign, saying it has become “anti-people and undemocratic”.
In a statement on Friday, August 12, the CPP said the government’s anti-drug campaign has resulted in extra-judicial and vigilante-style killings.
It also said the government has targeted mostly poor people who are allegedly linked to criminal syndicates while “the suspected big drug lords and their protectors are afforded courtesy calls to Malacañang, accommodations in Camp Crame’s guest house and preliminary investigations by the NBI.” (davaotoday.com)
