Looking at the Small Things
The Vice President Leni Robredo will finally get her chance to dip her finger, literally, in the quagmire of illegal drugs. After having been appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the cochairman for the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), a post she will share with share with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino.
At the outset and during her first meeting with members of the ICAD she already came up with the view that there is no clear data on drug use in the country and the figures previously declared do not allegedly tally with those resulting from operations validating the numbers.
This is where somebody at the ICAD should give a friendly advice to the Vice President that the war on drugs is way much bigger than just scrutinizing the numbers of drug users in the country. What the Vice President should be concerned is how come despite the ultra-maximum effort of the authorities to lay waste to drug lords, drug cartels and drug syndicates there seems to be no decrease in the supply of illegal drugs particularly “shabu” that is being smuggled into the country and peddled in the streets.
Should not this be more a priority and grave concern of the Vice President as the new drug czar instead of verifying the exact number of drug dependents who are the victims of this illegal drug scourge.
As a suggestion then perhaps the Vice President can come up with a proposed solution to the problem on how to counter the method of drug syndicates who simply give illegal drugs on concession to potential drug users and pushers and thereafter simply control them by collecting payments of the drugs sold at a later date. This is actually loan sharking on a different level and on a scale the government still has no idea of its magnitude.
Because there is so much supply and the drug lords and drug syndicates would want to push their product to market at the fastest time possible what they do is simply consign their products to those foolish enough to willingly sell them and afterwards will have to pay back the agreed price of the product with a mark-up of several percent.
This is the system being employed by the drug syndicates and those who cannot cough up the payments are simply threatened into paying at risk of being killed or being assassinated outright as a message to those who would double cross the syndicate.
How can the government go up and counter this kind of system where the enticement for the potential drug dealer and pusher is that he/she gets to peddle shabu without having to purchase the product and will surely have some extra to use and with payments due at a later date.
If the Vice President can come up with a solution to this problem then she will definitely have a better reputation than President Digong on the war on drugs. Otherwise nitpicking on the actual number of drug users will not solve the problem on illegal drugs.
Christmas in Baguio 2019
November 11, 2019