Source:
https://scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3044894/dutertes-3-year-drug-war-has-seized-just-1-cent-philippines
This Week in Asia/ Politics

Duterte’s 3-year drug war has seized just 1 per cent of Philippines’ crystal meth: Robredo

  • Vice-President brands war on drugs a costly failure after report based on government’s own data
  • Until now, the government has been vague about the drug’s presence in the country
Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo has branded Duterte’s war on drugs a costly failure. Photo: AFP

The Philippines Vice-President Leni Robredo on Monday branded President Rodrigo Duterte’s three-year war on drugs “a failure” as she revealed statistics showing authorities had seized only about one per cent of all the crystal meth in the country.

Issuing a 40-page report based on the government’s own data, the vice-president said authorities had also seized just one per cent of all the money earned from the sale of illegal drugs throughout the three-year campaign.

“Just think,” she concluded, “if this were an exam, the government score would be one out of 100.”

The presidential palace was quick to respond, with spokesman Salvador Panelo calling her report “a dud”.

“There is nothing new in what she said [and] it doesn’t mean it’s a failure even if it’s just one per cent,” Panelo argued.

“I think the failure is her sitting in ICAD,” he added, referring to Duterte’s appointment of Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs.

Robredo had lasted just 18 days at the agency; Duterte removed her from the position after she met officials from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – a move critics said was prompted by criticisms of the drug war by the UN Human Rights Commission. Officially, more than 5,000 people have been killed in Duterte’s war on drugs, though human rights group claim the toll is more than double that.

A protester with a Duterte mask takes part in a march to mark International Human Rights Day in Manila. Photo: AFP
A protester with a Duterte mask takes part in a march to mark International Human Rights Day in Manila. Photo: AFP

CRYSTAL CLEAR

Robredo’s figures are eye-catching as the Duterte administration has tended to be vague about the amount of crystal meth being smuggled into the country and sold in the streets.

Last November, Philippine National Police Colonel Romeo Caramat Jnr, director of the PNP-Drug Enforce­ment Group, told a news conference that a “modest estimate” was that “if we have three million users in our country, the minimum demand of drugs is three tonnes per week”.

Robredo, an economist and lawyer, appears to have used this figure as a basis to claim 156 tonnes of crystal meth was being consumed in the country every year.

She also said police had estimated there was 1.3 trillion pesos worth of the drug circulating yearly in the Philippines, but official data showed only 1.4 billion pesos worth of drug seizures.

“It is very, very clear that based on official data, despite all the deaths of Filipinos and all that money spent, the confiscated supply and drug money [was about] one per cent,” she said. “It’s really a failure.”

She urged the government to abandon door-to-door raids of private homes to flush out drug users and small drug dealers, saying these had resulted in 248 deaths monthly from July 2016 to last October.