Duterte: There are 3 million addicts in the Philippines
There are now three
million drug addicts in the Philippines.
There was deafening
silence when Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made this revelation during a federalism
forum in Barangay Borbon, Catarman Sunday afternoon.
“If you have three
million addicts, it means that you have at least 30,000 drug pushers,” Duterte
told his stunned audience in Cebuano.
The mayor added that
considering this number, it will have to be bloody to win the war.
He did not reveal the
source of his information but it is widely known that Duterte keeps a close tab
on developments not only in the worsening drug situation but all forms of
criminality.
Duterte is passionate in
his concern over the proliferation of illegal drugs which is one of the main
points he raises in all his speaking engagements
.
When asked for his
reaction to the last state of the nation address of Pres. Benigno Aquino III,
Duterte lamented that there was no mention of the problem of illegal drugs.
“I supposed he was not
given the information about the drug problem. It was only a month ago that the
Manila Police revealed that nine out of 10 youth are influenced by drugs. That
is dangerous, it involves national security,” the mayor said in his reaction.
Duterte has pointed to
the enormity of the drug problem as one of the reasons why he is hedging on a
presidential bid.
The tough-talking mayor
does not mince words when it comes to drugs.
“I told you, when you
come to my city and sell drugs, I will really kill you,” he told his audience
of local officials, teachers and ordinary folk inside the covered court in
Bonbon.
It was not the first
time he issued the warning. It won’t be the last.
The deafening applause
that followed his normally chilly warning affirms the widespread fear gripping
most Filipinos over the drug problem.
Duterte lamented that
his response to the the problem is instead given more importance by the administration
particularly Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
“Unya, kana bitawng
asawa ni Samson, ako na nuoy gigukod (And yet, the wife of Samson is going
after me instead),” Duterte followed up, drawing laughter from a few who caught
up his reference to de Lima through the bibilcal Samson.
At the end of his
speech, Duterte was virtually mobbed by his audience, many of whom had earlier
lined up to have their pictures taken with his standie as a souvenir.
When he strode into the
venue after a four-hour delay due to mechanical hitches in the private plane
that took him from Cagayan to Mambajao and back, the public address system was
drowned out by the shouts and applause of the welcoming throng.
Duterte’s unequivocal
stance - and success - against illegal drugs has made him stand head and
shoulder above the rest of the field in next year’s presidential polls.
While Duterte continues
to profess disinterest in the presidency, it is clear it is only a matter of
time before the roof caves in.
The call of the time for
desperate measures - which only Duterte is capable of at this time - will be
too much for him to resist.
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