A Lesson Learned

December 16, 2019 Sideglance

When Vice President Lenny Robredo was finally relieved by President Rodrigo Duterte of her assigned and appointed duties as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) it was more of allowing her a brief glimpse into the brutal reality of the drug war being waged by the government than simply preventing her from bungling her job as drug czar of the country.

To be fair to the Vice President she simply was not aware, nor was she properly briefed, on what being a drug czar is supposed to do considering that she was suddenly thrust into a situation that is as complex and confusingly intricate for any ordinary individual much more a government official who had zero previous knowledge on the real occurrences on the ground relative to the drug war.

What to her is the seeming impunity of the State forces and enforcement authorities in obliterating and destroying drug personalities is simply a practical response to an obvious grave threat and danger against the State and people perpetrated by illegal drug syndicates, both local and national, and drug lords who, for far too long, have wielded their power and influence to victimize the hapless and the innocent in our nation.

No amount of reasoning and justification can explain how, despite the continuous and unrelenting campaign of the authorities to suppress and eradicate illegal drugs in the country, there seems no end to the steady stream of kilos and tons of shabu finding its way into the country.

Where before anti-narcotics agents were able to confiscate and seize only several grams or perhaps a kilo of shabu in their buy-bust operations, now we hear and see in the media reports of hundreds of kilos of the illegal drug being confiscated from drug traffickers hiding in plush and posh condominiums and residences in the country. This is the reality of illegal drugs in the country that no matter how hard the government pursues its campaign against it the drug lords and drug syndicates will always find a way to sell their evil product.

The Vice President should have been aware of this situation when she stepped into the shoes of a drug czar. Unfortunately she was more concerned with establishing the actual count of drug personalities whom she believed were killed illegally by the authorities, than trying to come up with a solution on how to permanently put an end to the illegal drug epidemic in the country.

She would still like to believe that the war on drugs can be won simply by using kids’ gloves against those who unwittingly or wittingly have decided to engage themselves either in the use or selling of illegal drugs. Such is the misconception arrived at by the Vice President that even before she can warm her seat in ICAD she was already told by the President to step down as the drug czar.

In hindsight what happened to the Vice President, in her very short stint as drug czar, was perhaps a lesson learned in the unforgiving, brutal and unrelenting campaign of the government against those who would see society and the people destroyed by illegal drugs.

Ultimately the war on drugs may not be as successful as earlier claimed and envisioned but what is important is the notice given to those who would harm the people by allowing drugs to proliferate that the government will not simply stand by and do nothing.

That famous quote comes to mind which states, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.