Manila: Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the government is open to initiatives from Washington to help address the country’s drug problem while adding that American observers are welcome to monitor Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
In a statement released following his meeting in Washington on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Cayetano said he told his US counterpart that Manila would accept any initiatives on addressing the problem concerning substance abuse and how the overall socio-political effects of the drug menace can be effectively addressed.
Cayetano said he had conveyed to Tillerson Manila’s openness to receiving “independent observers or investigators” who could take a closer look into not only the illegal drug problem but also the government’s campaign to eradicate it.
“We made it clear that we have nothing to hide and that we are ready to work with experts or observers as long as they are independent and fair,” Cayetano said in a statement following his meeting with Tillerson.
Apparent efforts by Cayetano to court US support behind President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against drugs came amid criticism that the drive had been receiving from abroad due to the huge number of casualties. Policemen had been earlier told by the President that they would not be held accountable if the drug suspects they had killed had resisted arrest and fought back.
Figures on slain drug suspects vary, but local police said these number more than 3,000 since the Duterte administration assumed authority in July last year.
But Cayetano said the issue is simply being politicised for apparent reasons.
“We would welcome experts if they can assure us they would not politicise the investigations because we want to make sure the outcome would be credible,” Cayetano said.
“In the 25 years that I have been in public service, I have seen statistics from various sources placing the number of drug users and dependents from as low as one million to as high as seven million,” the secretary said.
“Although the statistics, the classification of users and the methodology used vary, they all still point to the seriousness of the illegal drug problem in the Philippines,” he said.
Cayetano also reportedly told Tillerson that the Philippines — contrary to what is being projected by some groups — does not have a state policy allowing extra-judicial killings, especially of illegal drug suspects.
Earlier, the US extended a $2 million (Dh7.35 million) assistance to the Philippines to support the government campaign against illegal drugs.
