CEGP echoes Robredo’s statement: Duterte’s drug war a ‘massive failure’

President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs is a “massive failure,” the country’s vice president said on Monday, January 6.

Vice President Leni Robredo said only 1 percent of the estimated supply of methamphetamine has been seized in the last three years. As a result, only less than 1 percent of drug money had been frozen by the administration out of the numerous trade of illegal drugs.

Since Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign started, it has failed to ensnare drug lords while killing at least 30,000 people with the majority belonging to the poorest of the poor.

Duterte’s drug war was launched to ascertain his power over all drug syndicates in the country. Duterte used all-out state violence to make the drug syndicates bend to his power. He is now the Philippine drug lord in control of all drug trafficking nationwide.

Not only Duterte’s drug war has failed to target the root cause of the usage and selling of illegal narcotics in the country which is poverty, but his administration has adopted a militarist approach to fending off illegal drugs instead of treating it as a poverty and health issue as a whole.

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines enjoins Robredo in calling the United Nations and International Community to hold Duterte and his administration accountable for the senseless killings and the culture of impunity.

We will continue our militant reportage on the plight of the Filipino people, especially under the rampant killings and state fascism under the US-Duterte regime.