Manila: Provincial governors and mayors were strongly warned by the interior department that they will be charged in court if they are unable to address the problem on illegal drugs in their area.
“The Department of Interior and local government is prepared and persistent in making our communities safe by first eliminating drug menace. We are checking and ensuring that governors and mayors are our partners in this law-given mandate in maintaining peace and order,” DILG Secretary Mike Sueno said.
Sueno issued the threat as government continues to conduct a massive anti-drugs drive in various parts of the country. Over the course of two weeks since President Rodrigo Duterte formally assumed the presidency, thousands of drug pushers and users have been rounded up and were made to pledge that they will reform their ways.
Those who resisted arrest were shot and killed under mysterious circumstances.
The anti-drugs drive had evolved into a seeming “purge” in a haste to eliminate the drugs menace, that, in the years before the Duterte presidency, were conducted with seeming lack of political will.
This time around, the anti-drugs campaign were being carried out with intensity not witnessed in past drives. Authorities said that the bigger drug dealers are now hiring contract killers to eliminate pushers so the latter would not tell authorities about their operations.
“It is either that these drug personalities are killing each other or there is a vigilante group that is eliminating these people,” national police director general Ronaldo dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said so far, 63,000 “drug” personalities have gave themselves up to authorities. Nearly 200 were killed by police since May 10 for various reasons such including trying to grab the firearms of arresting policemen.
For his part, Sueno said they are giving governors and mayors six months from now up to December to eliminate drug problems in their area. “If they cannot lower the number of people with drug addiction in their area, they may be faced with serious neglect of duty,” he said.
“This is one of the reasons why mayors of cities and municipalities are deputised by the National Police Commission vis-a-vis the Philippine National Police (PNP) so they can have a direct operational supervision over PNP personnel assigned in their respective areas,” he said.
Drug addiction is a key concern with the Duterte administration.
Substance abuse, according to officials, has not only affected individuals but impacted the entire society as well with proceeds from drug sales being used to influence politics. Politicians and officials are being used by drug dealers to exercise control over certain localities, virtually turning these areas into their own turf.
