Unwinnable war

“President has admitted he could not stop drugs in the last two or so years of his term. He was man enough to say it when all eyes were on him.

An accidental opposition leader. A housewife.

Her sacking as co-chairman of the ICAD (Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs) had her critics spewing more fire that no weak being could take.

What has become of Philippine politics would put hate to shame.

But Leni was game, like she was when she accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer for the ICAD’s co-leadership, like she was when she took her sacking in stride.

Leni could not have won in that situation, however genuine the President’s offer for her to help his administration win its war against illegal drugs.

It extricated the Vice President from a messy entanglement that would not have bridged the gap between her convictions and the President’s policies.

The President had also extricated himself from having to appease more people, including foreign human rights advocates, and get saddled with baggage that would have put his anti-drug policies in peril.

It took longer for Mr. Duterte to realize his mistake of courting Leni to become part of his team. And the anti-drugs team no less.

Duterte-Robredo won’t work. It won’t even ignite. No spark.

Leni proved to be a thorn on Rody’s side. She quickly pounced on the opportunity to advance her interests by changing the tact of the ICAD program.

As expected, she created an unbridgeable fissure between her and Rody’s anti-drugs teams. So, two weeks and she’s gone.

But the anti-drug war is not about Leni.

It is about the agencies concerned that work to eradicate the menace once and for all, with or without Leni.

That it needed a strongman like Rody to take up this war in his advanced years is an abomination. He has other matters to deliver to the people. The presidency is no easy job.

Blame Noynoy Aquino, who turned a blind eye on the proliferation of illegal drugs during his term. But blame other past presidents as well for allowing the gateways for these chemicals to flourish in our lands.

Illegal drugs did not come to our shores only in the last nine years.

Past investigations revealed the various entry points of illegal drugs. It included the ports where the Bureau of Customs has control of.

The Philippine National Police and the various law enforcement agencies, which could have stopped the illegal trade, have turned a blind eye on their rogue peers, too.

Politicians have played well into the trade, enriching themselves and using drug monies to fuel their ambitions.

Duterte did not lack the courage to expose all these. But to stop them was another matter.

The President has admitted he could not stop drugs in the last two or so years of his term. He was man enough to say it when all eyes were on him.

He had tapped the Vice President to help, but their eyes did not meet while they talked with their backs turned against each other.

It will continue to claim many lives, whether through overdose or the bullet.

But with or without Leni, with or without Duterte, the law enforcement agencies should move on. And they should start by cleansing their own ranks of the “ninjas” and drug protectors.