Dead serious

IT will be as relentless and chilling as the day it began, so vowed President Rodrigo Duterte on his government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

In line with this, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered a review of his officers’ achievements in the drug war.

The PNP chief also echoed the President’s pledge as the national police force is to recalibrate efforts to ensure no stone is left unturned in the administration’s fight against illegal drugs.

An oversight committee will assess the anti-drug achievements of all police stations. Those with poor performances, he said, may need to adjust their operations or have officers removed from their posts.

Police, he added, will also continue monitoring some 1,600 drug users who have yet to surrender to authorities, over 1.2 million drug dependents who have sought rehabilitation and nearly 900 high value targets, including drug peddlers and their protectors.

Police said at least 4,200 Filipinos have been killed in the war on drugs since May 2016 when they clashed with authorities. Rights groups, however, say the death toll is three times higher and does not include alleged state-sponsored killings.

Despite this, the drugs problem still worries the people. Even in the workplaces.

And nobody will argue with labor front observers when they noted the existence of “drug-using workers” not only in private establishments but also in government offices and agencies.

The scenario can be very frightening because the dependence on illegal drugs by thousands of workers may lead to serious deterioration of industrial productivity in the country.

It is commendable that the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) is also taking a number of pro-active steps to ensure that government offices and agencies are drug-free.

The DDB said under the agency’s one-strike policy, public servants found guilty of illegal drug use will be immediately dismissed, a move supported by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

The agency also called on concerned government offices to submit proposals to further strengthen the DDB’s regulation of dismissing state officials and employees found positive for illegal drug use.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Gregorio Honasan II also were fine examples on how the government can cleanse its ranks of drug users. They led a surprise random drug testing of employees at the upper chamber of Congress.

Sotto and Honasan were the first to take the test before Department of Health personnel, minutes after the Senate president announced the drug testing during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony.

Atty. Myra Villarica also underwent the drug test.

Certainly, this only shows that various government agencies are serious in the pursuit to lay down the directions that will strengthen the crusading Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drug priorities.

Like other well-meaning people, we share the view of these agencies and government branches that there’s this urgent need to instill the importance of accountability, integrity and moral ascendancy among public servants.