QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — An opposition lawmaker said that the Duterte administration should review its campaign against illegal drugs following an admission of President Rodrigo Duterte that he cannot totally control the illegal drug problem in the country.
Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano advised the President to look into more effective steps in solving the root cause of the illegal drug problem.
“Ano ba talaga ang ugat ng problema ng illegal na droga? Isa sa malaking dahilan ay ang kahinaan ng ating criminal justice system. Therefore, let us attack the problem head on and not the victims of this failure in the system,” he said.
Alejano also stressed the need to strengthen the justice system and the internal cleansing in the ranks of the Philippine National Police
“Let us prioritize legislative initiatives such as modernizing and professionalizing our law enforcement agencies particularly the PNP, reforming our prosecutorial service by increasing their numbers and their pay, declogging our courts by increasing its numbers and holding to account corrupt and inefficient judges, overhauling our correctional services in order to provide an environment of reform rather than making offenders more hardened criminals inside correctional facilities, and bringing back the faith of our people to our government particularly in its justice system,” he said.
“Hindi ito nadadaan sa salita at pananakot lamang kung hindi sa mga konkretong pamamaraan na may pangmatagalang benepisyo sa ating demokrasya at buong sambayanan,” he added.
In a speech on Friday night, President Duterte said that he cannot totally control the drug problem in the Philippines, saying that even the United States could not control its drug problem.
“Sabi ko, ang America, naging America na iyan, hindi nga niya makontrol iyong drugs, tayo pa kaya?” he said.
The President cited the country’s very long coastline and the numerous islands — more than 7,000 — as factors that have to be looked into in controlling the illegal drugs.
“We do not have the equipment, kulang man. And you know the coastline. … It is not a contiguous place na at least one border lang. Ito island… that’s 7,000 islands comprising the Philippine… the Republic of the Philippines,” he stressed.
“Hindi makaya nga ng iba, tayo pa kaya? ” he continued.