(Eagle News Service) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday renewed the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, noting that the country’s economy will not surge without peace and order.
“That is why I have resolved that no matter how long it takes, the fight against illegal drugs will continue because that is the root cause of so much evil and so much suffering,” he said in his second State of the Nation Address.
According to Duterte, the fight will be “unrelenting as it will be unrelenting.”
“Despite international and local pressures, the fight will not stop until those who deal in (drugs) understand that they have to stop because alternative are either jail or hell. I will make sure very sure that they will not have the luxury of enjoying the benefits of their greed madness,” he said.
“I do not intend to loosen the leash in the campaign or lose fight in illegal drugs. Neither do i intend to preside over distraction of the youth by being timid and tentative in actions,” he said.
Duterte also addressed the critics of his campaign, saying their efforts “will be better spent if you use your influence, moral authority, ascendancy of your organization over respective sectors to educate people on the evil of illegal drugs instead of condemning authorities and unjustly blaming killing that bloodies the country.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I value human life the way I value mine,” he added.
“(But) you harm the children in whose hands the future of this republic is entrusted and I will hound you to the very gates of hell. That is why, I ask you to join me in this fight against illegal drugs and all forms of criminality,” he said.
“If government is equipped with legal authority and your moral ascendancy over the sector you represent, wecan do so much and hopefully eradicate the scourge,” he added.