Now you get it

October 14, 2018 Opinion Sideglance

The United Nations may have finally understood why President Rodrigo Duterte is insistent and committed in his
war on drugs.

Just recently, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that it is the duty of every government to deal and confront the drug problem head on. “It is personal. The reality is that drugs and addiction are not abstract issues. All of us have stories. It is our duty to act, and act now,” Guterres said, during an event sponsored by Donald Trump, President of the US.

UN Chief Guterres is also correct in his observation that priorities for various nations may differ however, the entire
global community has a shared goal and that is to provide security, health and well-being to the people.

Thus President Duterte is right all along that the drug menace in our country needed to be stopped immediately. As
amply stated by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano during his speech in the UN in 2017, “in order to save the lives of the Filipinos, preserve their families, provide protection to the communities and halt the slide of the country into a narco-state”.

It took a long time coming but finally even the UN is finally coming to grips with the brutal reality that drugs not
only destroy lives but entire communities and even nations when it is allowed to operate with impunity.

In hindsight it may well have been the obstinate position of President Duterte in favoring an aggressive campaign against illegal drugs, despite constant opposition from his critics that pushed the UN to recognize the dire problem the entire world is facing regarding illegal drugs.

Here in the Philippines the war on drugs and the “operation tokhang” of the government continues now more forcefully more than ever, and this is due to the fact that because of the incessant campaign by the authorities to
go against drug syndicates more and more details about their sordid operation is now coming to light.

The people should not be alarmed about numerous reports of government personalities being involved in the drug trade which has been brought to light because of the war on drugs. What the people should be concerned about is
the matter of those deeply involved with illegal drugs but who up to now still remain in the shadows and have not yet
been discovered by the authorities.

This is what should alarm us since we really have no way of knowing how deep their tentacles have spread in the
communities and how far their corrupt influence has reached. It is only when the government will announce and make public the names of those involve that maybe we can sigh with relief knowing that the authorities have finally
exposed them for what they are.

The massive campaign on the war on drugs conducted here in the country should be adopted or replicated in other
countries as well, thru the sponsorship of no less than the UN who is now armed with the knowledge that indeed drugs destroy not only people but entire civilized societies if left unchecked.