Narco war to end under Rody — execs

Despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement last Tuesday expressing his frustration on the problems confronting his administration as he does not expect to end the narcotics menace during his term, officials said the target to finish the war on drugs remains a target.

Members of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) expressed their commitment to pursue the campaign against illegal drugs.

“It might not be possible but that is our target anyway,” Department of Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Secretary Eduardo Año said during the Rehabinasyon press briefing at Malacañang.

Año added the government’s success in fighting illegal drugs should be credited to Duterte’s political will and sincerity.

“Even before this administration, we already have problems (with) drugs and we only found the extent of the problem when we have these relentless efforts and we have 1.3 million drug personalities who surrendered,” he said.

According to Año, law enforcers were able to shut down shabu laboratories in the country which in turn resulted in the current trend of drug syndicates attempting to smuggle drugs worth billions of pesos into the country.

“We cannot do this overnight. Hopefully, it will be finished by 2022. It did not grow. We just discovered that this (problem) is so huge. We have more work to do,” he said.

Año added the present campaign would not be enough to pin down all pushers and drug syndicates.

ICAD data show 42,029 out of 42,044 barangays, or 99.96 percent, have organized their respective Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADAC).

So far, only 15 barangays from the National Capital Region and the Bicol region have not yet organized their BADAC.

Congress, he said, must pass the proposed bill seeking the re-imposition of the death penalty on drug pushers and syndicates.

“We are one of the only few countries that have no death penalty against illegal drug offenders. In Malaysia, only grams of drugs can be grounds for the death penalty. They should feel the fear of doing it,” Año said.

Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Secretary Catalino Cuy said government strategy in the anti-narcotics drive is anchored on suppressing the flow of illegal drugs through sustained law enforcement operations.