Duterte’s war on drugs an utter failure – Manila bishop

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’s war on drugs is an “utter failure,” Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) apostolic administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo said yesterday.

“We have to admit that the so-called war on drugs is an utter failure. How many thousands were killed or have been killed, and how many of them were children and the elderly who serve as collateral damage?” Pabillo said in his Fourth Sunday of Lent homily.

“After all these killings, has the use of illegal drugs in the country lessened?” he added.

The latest atrocity was the “Bloody Sunday” incident last March 7 that resulted in the death of nine activists while members of the police and the military were serving the search warrants in several areas in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).

Authorities reportedly used the excuse that the nine activists allegedly “fought back,” and they had search warrants with them when they conducted the raid.

“Those search warrants are not warrants to kill,” Pabillo said.

Planting of firearms or an explosive device in the areas where they conduct the searches has also been a common practice among law enforcement agencies.

These attempts to subdue those suspected of being terrorists by means of killing and planting evidence are failures because “this is the work of darkness,” the prelate said.

It has been a week since “Bloody Sunday,” but until now, there has been no formal investigation, according to Pabillo.